Sharpen Up: December 10, 2017

The Sabres wrap up their three-game road trip tonight in St. Louis where the opportunity to come home with points in each game is on the table.
The GMC Game Night pregame show kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on MSG (Duffer and Marty are on location) with puck drop scheduled for just after 7 on MSG and WGR 550. Keep an eye out for our game preview video and our Jani King Morning Skate Report until then here on Sabres.com.
Here's what you need to know.

Saturday's practice

In Sabres Now, Dan had a good chat with Scott Wilson about how his first week as a member of the Sabres organization.

Meanwhile, in the Ice Level Practice Report, Jourdon talked to the players about what they're looking to improve on in St. Louis. Here's how things were looking at practice, a day after Friday's loss in Chicago (a 3-2 overtime loss in which they gave up the lead in the third period and then allowed the winner with only 4.9 seconds remaining in OT).
For all of the emotion shown following an overtime loss to Chicago on Friday night, it's safe to say that the Buffalo Sabres aren't hanging their heads. The team took the ice for practice in Hazelwood, Missouri on Saturday afternoon with a noticeable level of energy and enthusiasm.
As disappointing as their loss in Chicago was, the reality facing the Sabres is that a win on Sunday would send them home from a difficult three-game road trip having taken five out of six points. Their opponent Sunday, the St. Louis Blues, may be the toughest of the three.

"We have an opportunity to take five out of six points against a really good opponent tomorrow and that's the way we should look at it," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "If we look back and look at this road trip as an opportunity to get better and improve, I think we would be happy with that."
With effort and emotion in check, execution stood out as the area of focus on Saturday.
"I thought we did a really good job executing and just played fast out there today," alternate captain Kyle Okposo said. "We just skated. We skated really well and moved our feet. I think we did the right things out there. It was a lot of fun, that's how we've got to play. We've just got to move and work.
"I went up to a couple guys after and just told them that practice was really good, so we've got to bring some of that energy tomorrow."

Attendance at practice

9 Evander Kane - 15 Jack Eichel - 29 Jason Pominville
67 Benoit Pouliot - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 21 Kyle Okposo
20 Seth Griffith - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 23 Sam Reinhart
17 Jordan Nolan - 22 Johan Larsson - 24 Hudson Fasching / 28 Zemgus Girgensons
Defensemen: 4 Josh Gorges, 6 Marco Scandella, 19 Jake McCabe, 41 Justin Falk, 93 Victor Antipin
40 Robin Lehner
31 Chad Johnson
Zemgus Girgensons was back practicing on a forward line after sitting out the last two games as a healthy scratch.
Housley did not rule out the possibility of seeing him join the lineup on Sunday.
"I thought this was one of his best practices in a long time so we'll make that decision tomorrow," Housley said. "It's good to see him with a little jump in his step and controlling the play in the small game area. He brought some really good energy today."
Rasmus Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian both were absent for maintenance days.
Ristolainen logged 31:44 of ice time on Friday at Chicago, topping the 30-minute mark for the second straight game and the 10th time in his career.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ristolainen became the first Sabres player to top 30 minutes in consecutive games since Dmitri Kalinin did so on March 15 and 17, 2004. No Sabre has ever logged more than 30 minutes of ice time in three straight games.
He now leads the league with an average of 27:14 of ice time per game this season. The Sabres are 6-1-3 in Ristolainen's career when the defenseman skates more than 30 minutes.

Tonight's matchup

The Sabres are 1-8-1 in their last 10 games against the Blues, and 1-6-3 on the road. Their last win in St. Louis came on Dec. 27, 2009 - also a Sunday.
That was a 5-3 victory with Buffalo goals coming from Jochen Hecht and two each from Mike Grier and Tim Connolly (Grier and Connolly actually had three-point nights each while Jason Pominville logged two assists). The winning goalie that night? Patrick Lalime.
From @SabresPR's Game Notes...

Today in Sabres history

1983: Phil Housley records his 100th NHL point in a 4-2 win at Boston. Housley remains the only defenseman ever to record 100 points for the Sabres before his 20th birthday.
1989: Dave Andreychuk records his 500th NHL point in a 4-3 win vs. Washington. Andreychuk, who ranks second in Sabres history with 804 points, is one of just nine Sabres player to record 500 points with the team.
...And Go Bills.