Sharpen Up: April 8, 2021 | Sabres host Devils for final time this season

It's a game night in Buffalo.
The Sabres host the New Jersey Devils tonight at KeyBank Center. It's the final time these two clubs will face each other in 2020-21.
Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550 with pregame coverage starting at 6:30 on MSG.
Buffalo will look to extend the team's five-game point streak (3-0-2) to six games.
Here's what you need to know.

Yesterday's practice

We took a look at the recent play of Rasmus Asplund in yesterday's Practice Report.
He has four goals in just 10 games this season, three of which have come in his past five appearances. He's finally starting to carve out a role on the team. He's been up and down from the taxi squad this year and dealt with an injury. Last year, he split time between Buffalo and Rochester, playing 29 NHL games.

Asplund put mental training atop his list of priorities during the offseason.
"I was still (thinking about) yesterday and thinking about the game yesterday," Asplund said. "Just my mind never really got a rest. When you get to play like 25, 30 games like I did last year, your mental game is not there. You feel tired, you're not sleeping well."
Sabres interim head coach Don Granato referred to Asplund's taste of Buffalo last season as an "apprenticeship" of sorts. Granato saw Asplund return this season as a more refined player, aware of his strengths and weaknesses and willing to take command of his role at the NHL level.

"That's what you see now," Granato said. "He was finding and searching his way around the NHL a year ago and now he's targeting what to do and what he can do within a shift and a game. And that's where you see the results now. He's very result oriented.
"He knows what's wanted from the coach, from the system he plays, and obviously within the game itself and he's ready for that next opportunity. Being ready to seize it is really the biggest difference as he's built himself up."
The biggest factor, Asplund said, has been his ability to leave games in the past.
"I watch my video, then I do those exercises until I kind of close the book and just put that day in the past," he said. "I'm looking forward to the next day, which I felt last year I didn't do."
Asplund will likely remain on a line with Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson tonight.
Read more here.

Tonight's matchup

Let's dive into @SabresPR's Game Notes:

• Since returning to the lineup on March 27, Linus Ullmark has a 3-1-1 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against average.
• A win tonight would give Ullmark wins in four consecutive starts for the second time in his career and the first since he won four consecutive starts from Dec. 11, 2018 to Jan. 3, 2019.