Sharpen Up: April 5, 2018

The Sabres wrapped up the home portion of their 2017-18 schedule last night. The Ottawa Senators came away with a 4-2 victory at KeyBank Center.
Buffalo jumped out to an early lead thanks to Ryan O'Reilly's goal 30 seconds into the contest, but Ottawa ended up taking a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
The final two games of the season will be played on the road. Buffalo will be in Tampa tomorrow night and in Sunrise, Florida to take on the Panthers on Saturday.
Here's what you need to know.

About last night

From the Lexus Postgame Report…
Ryan O'Reilly scored a mere 30 seconds into the tilt between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators on Monday, and for a moment it seemed like it might be a KeyBank Center finale to remember. Instead, the game turned out to be a microcosm of what's been a disappointing season on home ice.

The Senators responded with two goals of their own withing six minutes of O'Reilly scoring, from Max McCormick and Matt Duchene. Ryan Dzingel added another early in the third, giving Ottawa a lead it would never relinquish in a 4-2 loss for the Sabres.
The Sabres have now clinched 31st place in the standings, a far cry from where Jason Pominville thought they would be when he rejoined the organization in the summer.

"I don't think anyone … envisioned this," Pominville said. "Certainly not myself, being on the outside coming in and hoping we'd be headed in the right direction. And sometimes we are, but for the most part we're not.
"We take steps forward and then we take a couple back. Yeah, we had injuries and stuff like that, but with the group we have, I still don't believe we should be where we're at. But we are there, and things have got to change."

It was Fan Appreciation Night at KeyBank Center, and Housley emphasized the importance of his team having a strong performance in its final game in front of the home crowd. For the most part, he felt they came up short.
"I just think we didn't have enough investment from our players, particularly it being the last home game," Housley said. "We needed to be better, we needed to give more to our fans, and by the time we get a push it's too late.
"It's a broken record in that area where we're chasing games again. That's the disappointing part for me, because we talked about this after the Toronto game, we talked about this yesterday. We needed to have more investment from a lot of guys in our room."

Fan of the Year honored

Team Awards

Fan Appreciation Goes Digital on Saturday

Fans tuned in to MSG for the team's final road game against the Florida Panthers on April 7 will also have a chance to win prizes throughout the broadcast when Fan Appreciation Night Goes Digital.
Registered My One Buffalo members will be able to access a form to enter the contest to win a variety of prizes, including a $500 Key Possibilities gift card courtesy of KeyBank, an overnight stay package from Buffalo Marriott HarborCenter and two tickets to the Sabres' 2018-19 home opener, and two round-trip tickets courtesy of Delta Air Lines.
To participate in this contest, fans can follow the link in the Sabres section of the My One Buffalo app, which will be available from the beginning of the pregame show through the end of the third period. Winners will be announced by Brian Duff during both intermissions and the postgame show on MSG.