BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Monday, April 10
Buffalo 3 at NY Rangers 2 (SO)
Goals: Peterka, Mittelstadt
Goalie: Levi (26 saves/28 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 1/2; Shots: Buffalo 38 – NY Rangers 28
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 146)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Craig Anderson (upper body, March 31) – 6 games
UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, April 13: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 14: Buffalo at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SABRES AT DEVILS
• This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Devils this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated New Jersey 5-4 in Buffalo on March 24.
• The Sabres are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games against New Jersey; 5-4-1 on the road.
• This is the 173rd game all-time between Buffalo and New Jersey; Buffalo has an 84-60-28 series record.
• The Sabres are 39-29-16 on the road against the Devils all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• A win in tonight’s game would mark the 15th time the Sabres have earned 41 or more wins in a single season.
• If Buffalo earns a win in tonight’s game, it will mark the third time they have won four or more consecutive games this season.
• 2009-10 (six such streaks) was the last time the Sabres have earned three or more win streaks of four or more games in a single season.
• With a win tonight, Devon Levi would become the first Sabres goaltender to earn a win in four consecutive games since Carter Hutton did so from Nov. 8 to 16, 2018.
• Levi would be the Sabres youngest goaltender to win four consecutive games since Tom Barrasso earned four straight wins from Jan. 31 to Feb. 8, 1986 with a win tonight.
• Tage Thompson has recorded 43 points (20+23) in his last 43 games, including 24 points (11+13) in his last 23 games.
• Alex Tuch has notched 20 points (11+9) in his last 19 games, including 10 points (5+5) in his last nine games.
• In his last eight games, Casey Mittelstadt has recorded 12 points (3+9), the only time he has tallied 12 or more points in an eight-game span in his career.
• Mittelstadt is riding a three-game point streak (3+2) and a point in tonight’s game would give him his fifth point streak of four or more games in his career.
• Since March 25 (eight games), Mittelstadt leads all Sabres skaters in assists (9) and points (12).
• Dylan Cozens has six points (3+3) in his last six games and has notched at least one point in seven of his last 10 games.
• Rasmus Dahlin has registered seven points (1+6) in his last six games.
• Owen Power has earned seven assists in his last seven games.
• With an assist in tonight’s game, Power would become the fourth Sabres rookie defenseman to record eight assists in an eight-game span at least one time and the first since Tyler Myers in 2009-10 (March 10 to 24).
BACK-TO-BACK
• Today’s game concludes Buffalo’s 14th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, which opened with a road shootout win against the New York Rangers. The Sabres are 8-5-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 5-7-1 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets this season is: four points (5), three points (0), two points (2), one point (2) and zero points (4).
NEW JERSEY DEVILS NOTES:
Last Game:
New Jersey Devils 1 Boston Bruins 2
(50-22-8 – 108 PTS) (62-12-5 – 129 PTS)
Three Stars: 1. P. Zacha 2. L. Ullmark 3. M. Blackwood
SCORE 1ST 2ND 3RD OT SO FINAL
Boston 2 0 0 – – 2
DEVILS 1 0 0 – – 1
Goals:
BOS: P. Zacha (PPG), P. Zacha
NJD: J. Bratt
INJURIES/ILLNESS
PLAYER INJURY OUT SINCE GAMES MISSED
Jonathan Bernier – LTIR Lower-body, hip 2021-22 80
Curtis Lazar Undisclosed 3/19/23 11
2022-23 Total Man-Games Lost to Injury/illness: 222
TRANSACTIONS
4/8/23 Luke Hughes Signed ELC, 3 years
WHAT TO KNOW
The Devils earned 50 wins in a season for the second time in franchise history, after defeating Columbus on Thursday, April 6, at the Rock. The last time that the Devils earned 50 wins in a season was when Jersey’s team logged the franchise record 51 wins in 2008-09 (51-27-4=106 PTS). The most points that the Devils earned in a single season was 111 PTS, after posting a 48-19-12 record in 2000-01. Yet, Jersey’s team is fresh off recording one goal in a game for the 11 th time this season (1-9-1). Head coach Lindy Ruff’s next win marks his 97th career regular-season victory with New Jersey. The 97 wins would tie Brent Sutter for the fifth most all-time wins that a head coach earned in franchise history. Doug Carpenter ranks fourth all-time with 100 career victories with New Jersey. The Devils officially clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday, March 25, for the first time since 2017-18, but also earned 100 points in a season for the first time since 2011-12 (48-28-6=102 PTS). It marked the 14th time in franchise history that the Devils earned 100, or more, points in a single season for the standings. Luke Hughes attended practice on Saturday and Monday, while D. Hamilton, E. Haula and M. McLeod did not practice on Monday at the Rock.
SEASON-HIGH TAKEAWAYS
New Jersey logged 19 takeaways vs PIT on Tuesday, April 4, which marked a season-high. The most takeaways recorded in a single game for franchise history is 27, which was logged on Jan. 5, 2006, vs MTL, in a 5-4 win.
OVERTIME/SHOOTOUT
The Devils own 10 overtime wins this season, which marks the most overtime wins in a single season for franchise history. The team earned nine overtime wins in a single season on three occasions in franchise history:
2022-32: 10-4
2015-16: 9-2
2013-14: 9-5
2008-09: 9-2
The team’s 10 OT victories ranks first in the NHL. Winnipeg, Carolina, Colorado and Seattle rank second with nine wins in OT. The Devils are 2-4 in games decided in a shootout this season. The team’s last shootout victory was earned on Mar. 9, at Washington in a 3-2 win.
The team’s last shootout was on Thursday, March 16, in a 4-3 loss to Tampa at the Rock.
VS CONFERENCE/DIVISION
The Devils are 22-5-5 vs the Western Conference this season. The franchise record for most wins vs the Western Conference was 18, which was logged in 2000-01. The Devils own a 28-17-3 record vs the Eastern Conference and 17-6-2 vs the Metropolitan Division. Jersey is 11-11-1 vs the Atlantic Division this season.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
Overall: 15-8-1
First game: 6-5-1 | home: 0-1-0 | road: 6-4-1
Second game: 9-3-0 | home: 4-2-0 | road: 5-1-0
STATS EXPANDED
New Jersey enters Thursday’s contest with an overall face-off percentage at 51.3% (ranks 13th in NHL), while the highest overall faceoff percentage the team finished with in franchise history for a single season was 51.4% in 1997-98 (face-offs were tracked & recorded starting in 1997-98). Jersey’s team is averaging 34.5 shots per game, while the team’s highest shots per game for franchise history in a single season was
33.1 in 1999-00. The Devils are 29-9-1 when scoring first in a game this season and 21-13-7 when trailing first in a contest. New Jersey’s 21 wins when trailing first in a game this season are tied for first with Boston (21-11-2). The Devils are 33-1-2 (ranks 5 th in NHL) when leading after the second period this season, while Boston ranks first in the NHL for this matter with a 46-1-2 record. The Devils are 15-6-2 when outshot by an opponent this season and 34-16-6 when outshooting teams. The Devils are 1-0-0 when shots are even vs an opponent for 2022-23. The Devils have allowed 1, or fewer, goals against 18 times (tied 11th , WPG) this season in a game. Jersey’s team allowed one, or fewer goals against, in a game just eight times all of last season. Boston has allowed 1, or fewer, goals against in a game 31 times this season, which ranks first in the NHL.
