Sharpen Up: January 21, 2022 | Tomorrow is Youth Hockey Day

Production-wise, it was a big night for the Buffalo Sabres. Rookie Jack Quinn scored and picked up an assist for his first NHL points, Rasmus Dahlin had a three-point night, Alex Tuch scored his first goal on home ice, and Aaron Dell made a career-high 42 saves.
However, it all fell by the wayside as the Dallas Stars scored twice in the third period to win 5-4. We have the full recap for you here.
The Sabres will return to practice today as they prepare for tomorrow afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Flyers who are 0-7-3 over their last 10 games.
Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550 with pregame coverage on MSG beginning at 12:30. TIckets are on sale now. It's also Youth Hockey Day.

A look back at last night

From the Postgame Report:
Jack Quinn fired a shot off the crossbar for his first NHL goal. Rasmus Dahlin - wearing a letter for the first time in the NHL - deked past a defender to open the scoring. Dylan Cozens scored on a breakaway, and Alex Tuch continued a torrid start to his tenure in Buffalo.
All were promising glimpses from a young team still finding its way. But it was the veteran play of the Dallas Stars that made the difference in a 5-4 loss for the Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

"Playing against a team like that, they do the right things every time, they wore us down a little bit," Dahlin said. "We've just got to play simple and take away all the mistakes. But, you know, young team. We learn and we've just got to build and build and build and we will get better, for sure."

The Sabres jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of goals from Dahlin and Quinn during the first period. They led 3-1 after Cozens scored early in the second.
But the Stars continued to chip away during the final 40 minutes. Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin scored to tie the game 3-3. Tuch put the Sabres back ahead prior to the second intermission, only for Seguin to tie the score again with 7:37 remaining.
Jason Robertson's second goal of the night gave the Stars their first lead - one they would never relinquish - with 3:32 left to play.
Dallas scored on four of its five power-play opportunities, including the tying and winning goals.
"The net-front battles and wall battles, they outbattled us," Sabres coach Granato said. "There's no question that was the biggest difference in the game."
Read the full recap here.

Updated injury report

From our story yesterday:
Casey Mittelstadt participated in the Sabres' morning skate on Thursday, his first time on the ice with the team since sustaining an upper-body injury on Dec. 7.
He is listed as day to day on the Sabres' latest injury report, which you can view below in its entirety. Sabres coach Don Granato said he expects Mittelstadt to return to the lineup within the next couple games.

"Big thing is to get him integrated in practice, see where he's at," Granato said. "… We'll get another practice in tomorrow and we'll see where he's at."
Click here for updates on each player.

Cassie Campbell-Pascall on The Instigators Overtime

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and NHL broadcaster Cassie Campbell-Pascall joins Brian Duff and Martin Biron on the podcast this week.

Download or stream all episodes here.

New episode of Tablet Talk

Speaking of Dahlin, he chatted with Marty to break a few of his goals from this season: