BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Thursday, Jan. 26
Buffalo 3 at Winnipeg 2
Goals: Power, Thompson, Olofsson
Goalie: Comrie (19 saves/21 shots)
PP: 1/2; PK: 2/3; Shots: Buffalo 36 – Winnipeg 21
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 100)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Mattias Samuelsson (Lower body, Jan. 26) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Wednesday, Feb. 1: Carolina at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 11: Calgary at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 13: Buffalo at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 15: Buffalo at Anaheim, 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18: Buffalo at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SABRES AT WILD
• This is the second and final meeting between the Sabres and Wild this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Minnesota 6-5 in overtime in Buffalo on Jan. 7, 2023.
• The Sabres are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games against the Wild; 7-3-0 on the road.
• This is the 29th game all-time between Buffalo and Minnesota; Buffalo has a 14-13-1 series record.
• The Sabres are 9-4-0 on the road against the Wild all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• The Sabres have earned at least one point in each of their last six road contests, Buffalo’s longest road point streak since the team earned at least one point in six straight road games from Jan. 22 to Feb. 22, 2018.
• With a point in tonight’s game, the Sabres will have earned a point in seven straight road games for the first time since the team did so from Feb. 8 to March 6, 2011.
• Buffalo has earned wins in each of their last five games and a win in tonight’s game would give the team their second winning streak of six or more games this season.
• The last time the Sabres earned two winning streaks of six or more games in the same season was when the 2005-06 Sabres won seven consecutive games from Dec. 4 to 19, 2005, six games in a row from Jan. 24 to Feb. 7, 2006 and eight games in a row from March 3 to 16, 2006.
• A win in tonight’s game would give the Sabres their second four-game road winning streak this season.
• The 2009-10 Sabres were the last Sabres team to earn multiple road winning streaks of four or more games. They won four consecutive road games from Oct. 10 to 28, 2009, Nov. 27 to Dec. 14, 2009 and March 18 to 29, 2010.
• Owen Power has registered a point in four consecutive games, including one goal in each of his last three.
• A point in tonight’s game would make Power the first Sabres rookie defenseman to record a five-game point streak since Rasmus Dahlin notched a point in five consecutive games from Jan. 8 to 16, 2019. With a point tonight, Power would join Dahlin, Phil Housley, Calle Johansson, Tyler Myers and Nikita Zadorov as the only rookie defensemen in franchise history to record a five-game point streak.
• With a goal in tonight’s game, Power would extend his Sabres record for the most consecutive games with a goal by a rookie defenseman and would become just the third defenseman in franchise history to score a goal in four or more consecutive games (Dahlin, Oct. 13 to 22, 2022; Phil Housley, Nov. 22 to 30, 1988).
• Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 38 points (7+31) in his last 33 games, including seven points (1+6) in his last five games
• Alex Tuch has notched 43 points (16+27) in his last 33 games, including nine points (3+6) during his current seven-game point streak.
• A point in tonight’s game would give Tuch an eight-game point streak, which would extend the second-longest of his career and his longest with Buffalo.
• Tage Thompson has recorded 17 points (7+10) in his last 13 games and has recorded at least one point in each of his last six games.
• With a point in tonight’s game, Thompson would earn a point streak of seven or more games for the first time in his career and surpass his previous single-season career high in points scored (68), which he set in 78 games in 2021-22.
• Dylan Cozens has tallied 35 points (13+22) in his last 35 games.
• Victor Olofsson has 11 points (10+1) in his last 12 games.
• In his last 27 games, Jeff Skinner has notched 36 points (15+21).
• Skinner is riding a six-game point streak and a point in tonight’s game would mark his second point streak of seven or more games this season and the fourth of his career.
INTO THE WILD
• Rasmus Dahlin has tallied 10 points (4+6) in six career games against Minnesota, including seven points (2+5) in his last two.
• Dahlin’s 1.67 points per game played against the Wild is his highest against any team in the NHL.
• Victor Olofsson has notched four points (3+1) in four contests against the Wild in his career.
• Casey Mittlestadt has recorded six points (1+5) in five career games against Minnesota and a point in tonight’s game would give him a point in three consecutive games against the Wild.
• Mittelstadt is a native of Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
• Dylan Cozens has registered three points (2+1) in three career games against Minnesota.
ROAD WARRIORS
• The Sabres are 15-7-1 on the road this season and are tied for seventh in the NHL in road points percentage (.674).
• .674 is the highest road points percentage in franchise history.
• Since Nov. 22, the Sabres have gone 12-2-1 in away games and they rank first in points percentage (.833) in that span among all NHL teams.
• Buffalo is currently scoring 3.78 goals per game on the road this season, which would rank second all-time in Sabres franchise history for the most goals scored per game on the road in a single season, trailing just the 1974-75 Sabres (3.88 goals per road game played).
• The Sabres also currently have the second-highest road power-play percentage (25.0) in franchise history. Only the 1979-80 Sabres (26.0 percent) scored on a higher percentage of power plays on the road.
• The Sabres currently hold the franchise record for the highest road winning percentage when scoring first (.909).
• This season, the Sabres have gone 10-1-1 against Western Conference opponents on the road.
• Entering play on Jan. 27, Tage Thompson ranked second among all NHL skaters in road points this season (36) and was tied for the league lead in goals scored on the road (18).
• Rasmus Dahlin led all NHL defensemen in road goals (8) and road points (27).
MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES
BUFFALO SABRES
All-Time Wild Record: 14-9-5 (4-6-3 at Xcel Energy Center, 10-3-2 at Buffalo)
2022-23: The Sabres earned a 6-5 overtime victory in the series-opening game in Buffalo (1/7)…D Calen Addison (0-2=2), C Joel Eriksson Ek (1-1=2) and C Ryan Hartman (1-1=2) all posted two-point performances for the Wild…LW Marcus Foligno (1-0=1), RW Brandon Duhaime (1-0=1) and LW Kirill Kaprizov (1-0=1) also scored goals…G Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31-of-37 shots faced for Minnesota…D Rasmus Dahlin led Buffalo with five points (2-3=5)…C Dylan Cozens (1-1=2), C Casey Mittelstadt (0-3=3) and LW Victor Olafsson (2-0=2) added multi-point performances…G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 39 of 44 shots faced for the Sabres.
WILD LEADERS: D Alex Goligoski leads Minnesota with 22 points (7-15=22) in 28 contests against Buffalo…RW Mats Zuccarello has 16 points (5-11=16) in 23 matches…D Jared Spurgeon owns 10 points (4-6=10) in 16 contests…C Frederick Gaudreau has eight assists in eight games.
WILD GOALIES: Fleury is 22-7-4 with a 2.22 GAA, a .920 SV% and four shutouts in 35 games (32 starts) vs. the Sabres…G Filip Gustavsson has not faced Buffalo.
SABRES LEADERS: RW Kyle Okposo leads the Sabres with 12 points (4-8=12) in 21 contests against Minnesota…Dahlin owns 10 points (4-6=10) in six games…LW Jeff Skinner has 10 points (5-5=10) in 16 matches… RW Alex Tuch owns eight points (4-4=7) in 17 games.
SABRES GOALIES: G Craig Anderson is 7-11-3 with a 3.04 GAA, a .900 SV% and one shutout in 22 games (21 starts) vs. the Wild…Luukkonen is 2-0-0
with a 3.25 GAA and a .938 SV% in one career start…G Eric Comrie is 0-1-0 with a 4.95 GAA and a .846 SV% in two games (one start).
FAST FACTS: Minnesota’s 7-0 win at Buffalo (1/15/15) is tied for the largest margin of victory in franchise history…The Wild is 11-5-4 in its last 20 games against the Sabres, outscoring Buffalo 70-46 in those games, including shootout goals.
FINDING THEIR GROOVE
• Since Oct. 25, the Wild is tied for eighth in the NHL with 25 wins.
• Since Oct. 25, Minnesota is giving up 2.55 goals per game (third in the NHL), allowing 29.4 shots per game (eighth in the NHL) and recording a .913 save percentage (seventh in the NHL).
HOME SWEET HOME
• Dating back to Nov. 19th, Minnesota is 12-3-0 at home for a .800 win percentage, the fourth-best rate in the NHL during that span.
• The Wild recorded an seven-game home win streak from Nov. 27 – Dec. 18, tied for second-longest home win streak in the NHL this season.
• Minnesota is tied for fifth in the NHL with 14 home victories this season and ranked 10th with a .630 point percentage at home.
• In home games since Nov. 19, the Wild is scoring 3.27 goals per game (GPG) while recording a 2.13 goals against average (GAA) and .922 save percentage (SV%).
• Since Nov. 23, Minnesota ranks second in the NHL in home GAA and third in home SV%.
ON THE POWER PLAY
• The Wild have converted 30.4 percent (21 of 69) of power-play opportunities at home this season, third-best in the NHL.
• Minnesota recorded a power-play goal in a season-high six consecutive games from Nov. 23 – Dec. 4, going eight-for-19 (42.1 pct.) during that span. The streak tied for the fifth-longest in franchise history.
PENALTY KILLERS
• Since Nov. 8, Minnesota is 10th in the NHL with a 81.1 penalty-kill percentage (103 for 127).
• Minnesota is seventh in the NHL with a 81.8 penalty-kill percentage (72 of 88) on the road this season.
SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
• Minnesota is tied for second in the NHL with eight shorthanded goals this season.
• The total is tied for the highest in franchise history through a season’s first 47 games (eight SHG in 2001-02 and 2006-07 seasons).
• Minnesota has not eclipsed eight shorthanded goals in season since recording nine during the 2008-09 campaign.
