MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES
All-Time Wild Record: 15-9-5 (5-6-3 at Xcel Energy Center, 10- 3-2 at Buffalo)
2022-23: Minnesota went 1-0-1 againt Buffalo…The Sabres earned a 6-5 overtime victory in the series-opening game in Buffalo (1/7) and Minnesota beat the Sabres 3-2 in a shootout at Xcel Energy Center in the series finale (1/28)…C Joel Eriksson Ek led the Wild with three points (2-1=3)…C Ryan Hartman (1-1=2), C Frederick Gaudreau (1-1=2), LW Kirill Kaprizov (1- 1=2) and D Calen Addison (0-2=2) tallied two points each…LW Marcus Foligno (1-0=1) and RW Brandon Duhaime (1-0=1) scored goals…G Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 60-of-68 shots faced for Minnesota…D Rasmus Dahlin led Buffalo with five points (2-3=5)…C Casey Mittelstadt tallied three assists…C Dylan Cozens (1-1=2), LW Victor Olafsson (2-0=2) and C Peyton Krebs (0-2=2) recorded two points each…G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 72 of 79 shots faced for the Sabres.
WILD LEADERS: D Alex Goligoski leads Minnesota with 22 points (7-15=22) in 28 contests against Buffalo…LW Marcus Johansson has 19 points (12- 7=19) in 28 games…RW Mats Zuccarello owns 17 points (5-12=17) in 24 matches…D Jared Spurgeon has 11 points (5-6=11) in 17 contests… Gaudreau owns nine assists in nine 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 13 points (4- 9=13) in 22 contests against Minnesota…D Erik Johnson owns 12 points (2- 10=12) in 51 games… Dahlin owns 10 points (4-6=10) in seven games… LW Jeff Skinner has 10 points (5-5=10) in 18 matches…RW Alex Tuch owns eight points (4-4=8) in 18 games.
SABRES GOALIES: 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 73-49 in those games, including shootout goals.
INJURIES
Freddy Gaudreau: upper body
Alex Goligoski: lower body
Jared Spurgeon: upper body
2023-24 Total Man Games Lost: 38
BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 40)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Jack Quinn (Achilles, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 13 games
Eric Comrie (lower body, Oct. 29; injured reserve) – 5 games
Zach Benson (lower body, Nov. 1; injured reserve) – 4 games
Brandon Biro (undisclosed, Nov. 4; injured reserve) – 2 games
Mattias Samuelsson (lower body, Nov. 4; injured reserve) – 2 games
Dylan Cozens (upper body, Nov. 4) – 2 games
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES vs. WILD
• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Wild this season. • Next meeting: Saturday, Feb. 17 in Minnesota. • Last meeting: Minnesota defeated Buffalo 3-2 (SO) in Minnesota on Jan. 28, 2023. • The Sabres are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games against the Wild; 4-5-1 at home. • This is the 30th game all-time between Buffalo and Minnesota; Buffalo has a 14-13-2 series record. • The Sabres are 5-9-1 at home against the Wild all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• The Sabres are riding a four-game point streak against the Wild, which is the longest point streak Buffalo has had against Minnesota. • Buffalo is 5-1-1 in its last seven games against Minnesota and six of the seven games have been decided by one goal. • The Sabres have scored on 42.9% of their power play opportunities in their last six games against the Wild. • Casey Mittelstadt has registered at least one point in five consecutive games and he has recorded six points (2+4) in that span. • With a point tonight, Mittelstadt would match the longest point streak of his career. He previously recorded a sixgame point streak (5+5) from April 6 to 14, 2023. • Mittelstadt has recorded one assist in four consecutive games and an assist in tonight’s game would give him the longest assist streak of his career. • Alex Tuch has notched nine points (4+5) in his last seven games, including at least one goal in each of his last two contests. • A goal in tonight’s game would give Tuch at least one goal in three consecutive games for the first time since he recorded one goal in three straight games from Feb. 15 to 21, 2023. § A goal in tonight’s game would mark the sixth time, and the fourth with Buffalo, that Tuch has recorded at least one goal in three or more consecutive games in his career. • Tage Thompson has notched 10 points (5+5) in his last seven games, including one point in each of his last two. • A point in tonight’s game would give Thompson his second point streak of three or more games in 2023-24. § He notched at least one point in four straight games from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1 and tallied eight points (4+4) in that span. • Thompson needs one assist to reach 100 in his career. Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 11 points (3+8) in his last 12 games and a point in tonight’s game would give him a three-game point streak. • A point in tonight’s game would give him 25-point streaks of three or more games in his career and would move him into a tie with Rasmus Ristolainen for the sixth-most points by a defenseman in Sabres history (245). § It would mark the sixth time in his career that he has recorded a point streak of three or more games within the first 15 games of a season. • JJ Peterka has registered six points (3+3) in his last six games. • Jeff Skinner has recorded 10 points (5+5) in his last nine games.
