Sharpen Up: November 13, 2017

The Sabres found themselves in two close games over the weekend, but only managed to come away with one point. After Friday night's home loss to Florida, they fell in overtime to the Canadiens 2-1 on Saturday in Montreal.
They'll be back at practice today before heading out to Pittsburgh for a game against the Penguins tomorrow night. The week ahead includes the team's first game at Little Casears Arena in Detroit on Friday and Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Saturday at home against Carolina.

Here's what you need to know.

About Saturday night

Ryan O'Reilly was able to knock in the opening goal of the game on the power play with 5.7 seconds remaining in the first period. The Sabres carried that lead into the third period, but Andrew Shaw tallied on the power play 1:01 into the third and then Max Pacioretty potted the winner 3:08 into overtime.
From Jourdon's Lexus Postgame Report...

Sabres coach Phil Housley was left feeling pleased with the way his team played the game, but disappointed with the result.
"I can't fault the effort of our guys," Housley said. "We outshot them, we out chanced them. We had a penalty called back, which was pretty odd that we're calling penalties back now. It was unfortunate because I thought the guys played real hard."
The Sabres appeared to have earned a power play in overtime on an apparent high-sticking call against Montreal forward Jonathan Drouin, only to find out that the officials had ruled that there was no penalty after huddling at center ice.
Housley said that the officials ruled that Drouin was following through on his shot at the time of the high stick.
"I disagree because you're in control of your own stick," Housley said. "To me it was a penalty but it wasn't called."

"Possession in overtime, it was literally everything," Nathan Beaulieu said, referring to the sequence in which his stick broke and allowed Montreal to set up the game-winner. "It couldn't have happened at a worse time for my stick to snap. It's really unfortunate. Guys were really good tonight. We put up a gutsy effort and thought we deserved to win, but what can you say? It's just really unfortunate."

O'Reilly took responsibility for the play as well, saying he wished he had found an outlet to maintain possession.
"Just skilled players making good plays," O'Reilly said. "I should've at least threw it back to our goalie or did something to make sure they don't get possession. We have a broken stick, so that's my fault there."
"We had opportunities to make it two, we had a 2-on-1. We had opportunities to score," Housley said. "But the thing that was intriguing to me was that guys were willing to pay a price in front of the net and getting second opportunities. If we continue to do that, then we're going to score more goals. But you have to do it on a consistent basis."

Chad Johnson was strong during a 27-save performance in net, which included multiple stops on breakaways. One such save was made on Paul Byron on the very next shift after Shaw had scored to tie the game.

Andreychuk to be honored tonight

Dave Andreychuk, Danielle Goyette, Paul Kariya, Mark Recchi, Teemu Selanne, Clare Drake and Buffalo native Jeremy Jacobs will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame tonight in Toronto.
We'll hear more from Andreychuk later, but let's look back to June, when he received the call…

"The years that I have waited make no difference to me," Andreychuk said. "It is quite an honor to be amongst the fellow Hall of Famers … My family and I are extremely thrilled to be honored in November. We look forward to that day."
Andreychuk has been eligible for induction since 2009. His 640 goals ranks 14th in NHL history, and he was the only 600-goal scorer - save for Jaromir Jagr and Jarome Iginla, both of whom are still active - not in the Hall. Andreychuk also holds the record for power-play goals with 274.
The Sabres selected Andreychuk with the 16th pick in the 1982 Draft, the same year they drafted Phil Housley - their last player to earn a Hall of Fame induction - with the sixth pick. Andreychuk said he still watches the Sabres often, and will do so even more now that his former teammate is coaching them.
Andreychuk scored 386 goals and 436 assists for 804 points during his nearly 12 full seasons in Buffalo. His point total is second only to Gilbert Perreault in franchise history, and he called the fact that he ended up passing Perreault - who he credited as an early mentor - in career points "mind-boggling."
Now, Andreychuk joins Perreault as the latest Sabre to make the Hall of Fame. And, though he'd go on to win a Stanley Cup as captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, he reserves a special place in his heart for the city where his career began.
"Buffalo is really always going to be home for me," he said. "I started there at 18. Yes I got moved around a little bit after being there for almost 12 years, but I was always going back to Buffalo. My three children were born there. My wife is from there. I think it's great for the Buffalo Sabres to have all these inductees."

Coming up today

Stay tuned for practice coverage today as the team returns to the ice. Jourdon has the written coverage while

has the Sabres Now practice report video.

from SabresProspects.com will also chime in today with our weekly Sabres Prospects Report.