Sharpen Up: November 27, 2021 | Sabres on the road vs. Detroit tonight

The Buffalo Sabres are in Detroit tonight to wrap up a stretch of five games in seven days.
It's a 7 p.m. faceoff from Little Caesars Arena. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will call the action on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage on MSG with Brian Duff and Martin Biron starts at 6:30.
Buffalo is coming off a big 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens last night on home ice. Tage Thompson (2+0), Cody Eakin (1+1), Jeff Skinner (0+2) and Victor Olofsson (0+2) all posted multi-point nights. Kyle Okposo scored shorthanded and Dustin Tokarski rebounded to put in a solid 25-save performance.
The six-games-in-nine-days stretch will conclude Monday when Buffalo hosts Seattle for Hockey Fights Cancer Night. Details below. Tickets are on sale now.
Here's what you need to know.

A look back at last night

From the Postgame Report:
Tage Thompson once again led the way for the Buffalo Sabres as the team snapped a four-game losing streak Friday night.
Thompson scored twice to up his team-high total to 10 in Buffalo's 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens at KeyBank Center.
Through 20 games, Thompson has already set career highs in goals (10) and points (15). Both of those totals lead the Sabres this year.
"We're all witnessing the benefit of him gaining experience," head coach Don Granato said. "It's turning in the form of confidence each and every day. Even the second goal he scored tonight, he took a big hit. It did nothing but make him more possessed and determined and banging his stick. He wanted to score again, and he did immediately after the hit.
"And that shows he was a little ticked off taking the hit, and he said, 'I'm going to take matters into my own hands here.' Obviously, responded with a goal, and it was a big goal."

Thompson skated 17:08 against Montreal, which is just below his average this season of 17:37, the best among Sabres forwards this year. He averaged just 13:52 of ice time in 38 games last season. Now with more ice time and a bigger role, the veteran of only 164 games producing at the NHL level like never before.
"I feel like I've always entered games with the mindset of 'I'm going to score.' I think now I'm getting a lot of opportunity and they're going in for me," Thompson said. "I think the confidence is continuing to grow and that's just the product of guys playing good hockey around me, too.
"As a group, I think we've been playing good. Obviously haven't gotten a ton of the results lately we've wanted, but I think we've done a lot of good things. A lot of that success is coming from the guys around me."
Read the full recap here.

The Amerks won, too

From the recap on Amerks.com:
The Rochester Americans (10-6-0-0) stormed out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back on their way to a 7-3 drubbing of the Hershey Bears (8-6-2-1) Friday night in a battle of the American Hockey League's cornerstone franchises at Blue Cross Arena.
Watch: Youtube Video
The Amerks erupted for a season-high four power-play goals and six different players posted multi-point performances.
Jack Quinn and Mark Jankowski each tallied a goal and two assists while Peyton Krebs finished with three assists. Michael Mersch (2+0), Ethan Prow (0+2) and JJ Peterka (0+2) all recorded a multi-point game.
Mason Jobst, Sean Malone and Ryan MacInnis completed the scoring with one goal apiece. Oskari Laakonen and Josh Teves both earned an assist.

With the win, Rochester, which has won 10 of its last 15 games overall, has earned at least one point in six of the last 11 games with the Bears dating back to the 2016-17 campaign, going 5-5-1-0 over that span.
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (6-6-0) made his eighth appearance of the last nine games and 12th overall. The Finnish netminder faced 40 shots, which included 27 over the final 40 minutes of play and picked up his sixth victory of the season.
Luukkonen is tied for sixth in the AHL in wins while ranking fourth in both minutes played (685) and games played (12).
The full recap is here.
The Amerks close out the three-game week as they make their first trip of the season to Upstate Medical University on tonight to take on the Syracuse Crunch. The 7 p.m. contest will be the second of 12 scheduled matchups between the two North Division rivals and all the action will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.

Tonight's matchup

From @SabresPR's Game Notes:
• This is the second of four meetings between the Sabres and Red Wings this season.
• Last meeting: Detroit defeated Buffalo 4-3 (OT) in Buffalo on Nov. 6, 2021
• Next meeting: Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 in Detroit
• The Sabres are 6-1-3 in their last 10 games against the Red Wings; 8-2-0 on the road.
• This is the 147th game all-time between Buffalo and Detroit; Buffalo has a 66-59-21 series record.
• The Sabres are 27-39-8 on the road against the Red Wings all-time.
• With two goals on Nov. 26 against Montreal, Tage Thompson set a new single season career high in goals (10) and points (15), and currently leads the Sabres in both categories this season.
• Thompson has six points (5+1) in his last four games.
• With a goal on Nov. 26 against Montreal and on Nov. 24 against Boston, Kyle Okposo has scored in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
• Cody Eakin recorded his first multi-point game of the season on Nov. 26 against Montreal, tallying a goal and an assist. It was also Eakin's first multipoint game since joining the Sabres prior to the 2020-21 season.
• With two assists on Nov. 26 against Montreal, Victor Olofsson has recorded four assists in four games since returning to the Sabres lineup on Nov. 21against the NY Rangers after missing eight games with an injury.
• Olofsson leads the Sabres in points per game this season (1.08), registering 13 points (5+8) in 12 games

Hockey Fights Cancer Night is Monday

The Buffalo Sabres, in partnership with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, will again take part in the NHL's Hockey Fights Cancer program during the team's home game against the Seattle Kraken on Monday, November 29 at 7 p.m.
As part of an NHL-wide initiative to raise money and awareness for cancer research, the Sabres will be hosting events throughout the night in support of local cancer patients and their charitable organizations.
All fans attending the game will receive a Sabres Hockey Fights Cancer scarf.
Fans attending the game will have an opportunity to participate in the Autographed Hat Surprise sale. For a $25 donation to the Sabres Foundation, fans will receive a Sabres Hockey Fights Cancer autographed hat. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Wives and girlfriends of Sabres players will be on hand to assist with the sale.
Fans at home will also have the ability to purchase Hockey Fights Cancer hats and scarves. Details will be available throughout the evening on the Sabres game broadcast.
An online auction featuring unique Sabres autographed merchandise and experiences will be running this week at Sabres.com/Auctions. This auction will start on Monday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. and close on Friday, Dec. 10 at 9 p.m., with all proceeds benefitting Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
To commemorate the night, all Sabres players will wear lavender Hockey Fights Cancer themed jerseys and use sticks with lavender tape during warmups. The jerseys will be auctioned off at Sabres.com/Auctions immediately following the game.
Sabres coaches and broadcasters will be wearing commemorative Hockey Fights Cancer ties and there will be a ceremonial puck drop before the game, so fans are strongly encouraged to be in their seats early.
Throughout the concourse fans will be able to pick up and fill out a "I Fight For" placard, which will be held up at a designated time during the second period.
Tickets for the game are on sale now.
More information can be found here.