Sharpen Up: February 1, 2017

Last night was one to forget and move on from. Buffalo fell into an early hole that became deeper and deeper as the game wore on. They ended up losing to the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 at Bell Centre after giving up the game's first five goals.
Dmitry Kulikov scored his first of the season (and first as a Sabre) to make it 5-1 with 3:56 left in regulation. Brian Gionta also scored on the power play with 2:12 to play and Robin Lehner ended up making 29 saves in net.
Here's what you need to know.

"It wasn't as if it was 19 chances to zero," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said after the game. "We had plenty of opportunities, but we played into their speed game. They played a fast game, we handed them the puck and they capitalized on a lot of the chances they had."

Turnovers were the cause of a majority of Montreal's chances as Jourdon LaBarber noted in last night's game recap.
In fact, Buffalo actually outshot the Canadiens 39-35 in the game with the Sabres holding an 18-5 edge in shots in the third period. The Sabres know they have to put this one in the rearview mirror and look ahead to the next task at hand.
"It's one game," Jack Eichel said. "It's a tough one but what are you going to do about it now? We have practice tomorrow and play another game on Thursday so I think we put it behind us. We obviously know we didn't play well.
"We're not going to change that now, were not going to change the outcome now, so I think it'll be important for us to go back to the drawing board, forget about this one, put it behind us.
"We know the way we have to play as a team to be successful. We didn't do it tonight and that's why we got spanked."
Here's more locker room reaction:

New Beyond Blue and Gold

Bill Wippert has been working as the team photographer since 1975. In the latest episode of Beyond Blue and Gold, he follow him through a game night and he shares some of his favorite photos through the years:

On tap today

Buffalo returns to practice this afternoon as they prepare for tomorrow night's match against the New York Rangers so stick around for full practice coverage.
Tomorrow's game can be seen on NBCSN at 7:30. Dan and Rayzor have the call on WGR 550.