GDT: Game 50: Sabres vs Stars - 1/30 8:30pm ET (MSG-B, WGR 550)

[Dreakon13]

Game Preview: 1/30/19 at Dallas

LAST GAME
Tuesday, January 29
Buffalo 5 at Columbus 4
Goals: Rodrigues, Reinhart, Thompson, Skinner, Sheary
Goalie: Hutton (33 saves/37 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 1/2; Shots: Columbus 37 – Buffalo 34

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 174)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Casey Nelson (upper body, Dec. 8; injured reserve) – 20 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Feb. 1: Chicago at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 5: Minnesota at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 7: Carolina at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9: Detroit at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 10: Winnipeg at Buffalo, 3 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at STARS

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Stars this season.
• Last meeting: Dallas defeated Buffalo 7-1 in Buffalo on Jan. 20, 2018
• Next meeting: Tuesday, March 12 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 2-8-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Stars; 2-8-0 on the road.
• This is the 123rd game all-time between Buffalo and Dallas; Buffalo has a 56-49-17 series record.
• The Sabres are 23-33-6 on the road against the Stars all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-5-3 all-time on January 30.
• January 30, 2007: Daniel Briere scores his second of two hat tricks as a member of the Sabres as the Sabres defeat the Bruins 7-1 in Buffalo.
• January 30, 2008: Ryan Miller stops all 32 Florida shots and Thomas Vanek scores the lone Buffalo goal as the Sabres defeat the Panthers 1-0 in Florida.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s matchup is the Sabres’ fifth straight road game. After tonight, the team will return to Buffalo for a seven-game homestand that ties the stretch from Jan. 20 to Feb. 2, 1997 as the longest in franchise history.
• Evan Rodrigues has scored in each of Buffalo’s last four games, marking the longest scoring streak of his career. He now has points in six of his last seven games (4+3), including points in five straight road games.
  • The streak ties him with Jeff Skinner (2x) and Sam Reinhart for the longest goal streak by a Sabre this season.
• Rasmus Ristolainen enters tonight’s game with points in four straight contests (0+4) for the second time this season. A point tonight would give him his first five-game point streak since January 2018.
• The Sabres are looking to end a six-game road losing streak against the Stars, seeking their first win in Dallas since a 5-4 shootout win on Jan. 15, 2009.
  • The only player on tonight’s rosters who played in that game was Jason Pominville, who recorded two assists and the game-deciding shootout goal.
• Nathan Beaulieu has totaled four points (1+3) in four career games against the Stars, including a career-high three points (1+2) on Jan. 4, 2017 in Dallas.

Click to read more...

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I just hope Scandella sits. He needs time to recover from his recent brain amputation...or whatever he's dealing with.

 

[Snippit]

I just hope Dahlin can learn something tonight from playing the Almighty Heiskanen

 

[MackAttack26]

With a win tonight and a Pittsburgh loss against TB:

Tied with PIT
1 point back of CBJ (1 more game)
2 points back of WSH and BOS
3 points back of MTL (1 game in hand)

Going into the 7 game home stand.

Just f***ing win.

 

[Gabrielor]

Would be a big win. Get it done boys.

 

[Zip15]

The second of a back-to-back would be a good opportunity to inject some fresh legs (ahem, Pilut) for an older vet. The long break probably negates some of that, but I am a little surprised more NHL teams don't play fresh guys on the back end of a B2B. I wouldn't even be mad if Phil also put in Beaulieu for Hunwick even though the latter played decent last night. I'll be disappointed if Phil goes with the same defensemen as last night under these circumstances.

Oh, and Dahlin > Heiskanen. Not that there's really any dispute about that outside of north Texas.

 

[kirby11]

Just find a way to win. Hoping Ullmark gets the start and is at least a bit less shaky than Hutton was at times yesterday.

Pilut or Beaulieu should be in for Scandella after last night's horror show but that probably won't happen.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

The second of a back-to-back would be a good opportunity to inject some fresh legs (ahem, Pilut) for an older vet. The long break probably negates some of that, but I am a little surprised more NHL teams don't play fresh guys on the back end of a B2B. I wouldn't even be mad if Phil also put in Beaulieu for Hunwick even though the latter played decent last night. I'll be disappointed if Phil goes with the same defensemen as last night under these circumstances.

Oh, and Dahlin > Heiskanen. Not that there's really any dispute about that outside of north Texas.

I'm surprised some NHL coaches know how to read.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

The second of a back-to-back would be a good opportunity to inject some fresh legs (ahem, Pilut) for an older vet. The long break probably negates some of that, but I am a little surprised more NHL teams don't play fresh guys on the back end of a B2B. I wouldn't even be mad if Phil also put in Beaulieu for Hunwick even though the latter played decent last night. I'll be disappointed if Phil goes with the same defensemen as last night under these circumstances.

Oh, and Dahlin > Heiskanen. Not that there's really any dispute about that outside of north Texas.

I've wondered about this for years, but vet preference and superstition seem to win coaches over instead. Pilut needs to be in over Scandella without a doubt, and the only reason to keep Beaulieu out is on orders from Botterill due to a trade being worked out.

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Kcb12345]

Looking forward to seeing Dahlin play tonight in person. I'll be at the game and he's been tearing it upppp lately and is a blast to watch despite me being a huge Heiskanen fan. Saw him get drafted here too which was pretty cool

Also keep an eye on that kid Roman Polak. You guys will notice him jumping up on the rush more than anyone on the teamsadly

 

[GellMann]

• The Sabres are looking to end a six-game road losing streak against the Stars, seeking their first win in Dallas since a 5-4 shootout win on Jan. 15, 2009.
  • The only player on tonight’s rosters who played in that game was Jason Pominville, who recorded two assists and the game-deciding shootout goal.

Holy crap, I remember snowmobiling and then coming home and watching this game...and then getting ready for 8th grade the next day

I've been in grad school for 2 years

Let's end that trash streak eh boys

 

[26CornerBlitz]

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

Game Notes

NHL Stats

Press Clips

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Deleted member 27798]

Not sure where this is being copied and pasted from, but this is wrong...

• Next meeting: Tuesday, March 12 in Dallas

3/12 game is in Buffalo.

 

[Dreakon13]

Not sure where this is being copied and pasted from, but this is wrong...

• Next meeting: Tuesday, March 12 in Dallas

3/12 game is in Buffalo.

The "Game Preview" link under the image, takes you to where this info tends to come from (though I'll occasionally pick through and fix little things).

EDIT: Fixed that. Thanks

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[ZZamboni]

I have a special hatred for the Stars. Not as much as the Leafs, Bruins, and Flyers and Gritty. But a hatred nonetheless. They fall somewhere around the level of hatred for the Candy canes. Yea, someplace nice like that.

 

[oldgoalie]

just f***ing win.

Phil - please start Ullmark, k? thx.

 

[debaser66]

I have a special hatred for the Stars. Not as much as the Leafs, Bruins, and Flyers and Gritty. But a hatred nonetheless. They fall somewhere around the level of hatred for the Candy canes. Yea, someplace nice like that.

Is it because of a Hullprint in the crease?

 

[Daz28]

If we make Dallas look like Columbus did yesterday, it'll be fun to see what management says about it.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Is it because of a Hullprint in the crease?

While his foot was in the crease I am pretty much over it at this point. Dallas the team is not the same but Brett Hull the hockey player... duck him.. duck him for life.

 

[Doohickie]

Looking forward to seeing Dahlin play tonight in person. I'll be at the game and he's been tearing it upppp lately and is a blast to watch despite me being a huge Heiskanen fan

Also keep an eye on that kid Roman Polak. You guys will notice him jumping up on the rush more than anyone on the teamsadly

I'll be in the Valor Bar & Burgers in the arena before the game with the DFW Bills Backers; I'll be wearing a Reinhart jersey. Come on over and say hi.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I comfort myself believing that Buffalo didn't have a chance in game 7 back at Dallas. My therapist says that most delusions are bad, but that this one is a good coping mechanism. She says I'm doing very well lately. The twitches haven't come back in a while.

 

[Doohickie]

Is it because of a Hullprint in the crease?

While his foot was in the crease I am pretty much over it at this point. Dallas the team is not the same but Brett Hull the hockey player... duck him.. duck him for life.

About a year after that event, I was on the same flight from LAX to DFW with Hull. He was sitting in Seat 1A in First Class, I was in the first row of Coach. I didn't get to speak to him on the flight, but I ran into him at baggage claim and talked to him while he waited for his bag:

Me: You're Brett Hull?

BH: Yeah.

Me: [general comments about the just finished season, leading into talk of 1999].... So, about that goal-

BH: [visibly wincing] Yeah, that goal. I still catch crap for that. I'll be lining up for a faceoff and the guy from the other team will push into me and say, 'You know that wasn't a goal, right?' But what was I supposed to do? The puck was there, I put it in the net. I would've wanted to score a highlight reel goal, but the refs called it a good goal and I couldn't take it back if I wanted to.

Me: Hey, my nephew plays hockey, can you sign your boarding card for him? His name is Matt.

BH: [signs card, "To Matt, good luck in hockey Brett Hull", hands it to me]

Me: Thanks. I'll give this to him when I go up to visit my family in Buffalo this summer.

BH: [visibly winces again then gives me a wry smile]

 

[26CornerBlitz]