BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
CURRENT INJURIES
– (Man Games Lost: 101) Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Jack Quinn (Achilles, Oct. 12; injured reserve) – 29 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Nov. 25; injured reserve) – 9 games
Jordan Greenway (upper body, Dec. 3; injured reserve) – 5 games
Alex Tuch (undisclosed; injured reserve) – 4 games
Mattias Samuelsson (undisclosed) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
12/11: Recalled forward Brett Murray from the Rochester Americans (AHL); Loaned forward Isak Rosen to the Rochester Americans (AHL)
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES AT AVALANCHE
• This is the second and final meeting between the Sabres and Avalanche this season. • Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Colorado 4-0 in Buffalo on Oct. 29. • The Sabres are 2-8-0 in their last 10 games against the Avalanche; 2-7-1 on the road. • This is the 153rd game all-time between Buffalo and Colorado; Buffalo has a 64-64-24 series record. • The Sabres are 25-38-13 on the road against the Avalanche all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Buffalo has earned at least one point in each of its last three games (2-0-1) and a point in tonight’s game would give the Sabres their first point streak of four or more games this season. • The Sabres last recorded a point streak of four or more games from March 24 to April 1, 2023 (five games, 4-0-1). • The Sabres have won two consecutive games against the Avalanche and a win in tonight’s game would give them a three-game win streak against Colorado for the first time since they won three straight games against Colorado from March 24, 2003 to Dec. 4, 2005. • Kyle Okposo has notched four points (2+2) in his last two games, including one goal in each game in that span. • A goal in tonight’s game would give Okposo his second three-game goal streak of 2023-24. • If he scores a goal tonight, it will mark the fourth time that he has registered multiple goal streaks of three or more games in the same season. He also did so in 2008-09, 2011-12 and 2013-14. • Connor Clifton has registered four points (0+4) in his last three games, including at least one assist in each game in that span. • An assist in tonight’s game would give him the longest assist and point streak of his career. • Jeff Skinner has recorded four points (2+2) in his last four games and a point in tonight’s game would give him a four-game point streak. • Rasmus Dahlin has notched 12 points (4+8) in his last 12 games. • Dahlin recorded two points (1+1) on Dec. 11 vs. Arizona and a multi-point effort in tonight’s game would move him into a tie with Doug Bodger (57) for the second-most multi-point games by a defenseman in Sabres history. • If he plays, tonight’s game will mark Henri Jokiharju’s 300th NHL game.
COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
The Colorado Avalanche wraps up their five-game homestand tonight against the Buffalo Sabres at Ball Arena…The Avs are 2-2-0 so far on this home stay…The team will head to Winnipeg next where they will face the Jets on Saturday before hosting San Jose on Sunday…This is one of two five-game homestands on the 2023-24 schedule (also March 22-30), which marks the club’s longest homestands of the season…December is Colorado’s busiest month of the campaign, as the team will play 15 contests (nine home, six away).
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – BUFFALO SABRES
The Avalanche and Sabres wrap up the season series with the second and final meeting of 2023-24…Buffalo defeated Colorado 4-0 in the first matchup on Oct. 29 at KeyBank Center…Despite the loss, Colorado is still 8-2-0 in its last 10 against the Sabres and 19-5-0 in the last 24 matchups against Buffalo dating back to 2006-07.
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Jean-Luc Foudy – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Joel Kiviranta – illness (Dec. 11 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – knee (Oct. 11 – present)
Artturi Lehkonen – neck (Nov. 11 – present)
Chris Wagner – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Man-Games Lost: 148
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 11 – Ben Meyers recalled from Colorado (AHL)
TONIGHT’S GAME NOTES
QUICKLY
Colorado leads the Central Division with a 17-9-2 record (36 points)…The Avalanche’s 16 regulation wins are tied with the New York Rangers for second in the NHL behind only Vancouver (18).
HOME, SWEET HOME
The Avalanche are 10-4-0 at home this season…The club’s 10 home wins are tied for third in the NHL, one behind Vancouver and Vegas (both 11).
PACIFIC HEIGHTS
The Avalanche are 9-3-1 against Pacific Division teams this season, 5-1-0 at home
BACK-TO-BACK
Colorado will play a total of eight back-to-back contests in 2023-24, tied for its fewest ever since relocating to Denver (also 2008-09)…The Avs have played two back-to-backs so far, going 1-0-1 in the first game and 1-1-0 in the second…The Avalanche played 13 last year, posting a combined 19-5-2 (.769) record in those contests, second in the NHL behind only Boston (23-3-2, .857)…Colorado finished 9-3-1 in the first game and was a league-best 10- 2-1 (.806) in the second contest.
