Sharpen Up: October 11, 2018

The Sabres host the Colorado Avalanche tonight at KeyBank Center to close out the season-opening homestand.
Tickets are on sale now so stop down to the arena for the 7 p.m. faceoff. It's your last chance to catch the team at home before they head out for a five-game West Coast road trip.
Broadcast coverage on MSG starts at 6:30 p.m. with the GMC Game Night pregame show. You can also hear RJ and Rayzor's call on WGR 550.
Here's what you need to know.

Tonight's matchup

Let's see what news and notes Sabres PR has cooked up for us…

• Jack Eichel has recorded at least a point in each of his five career meetings with the Avalanche, totaling six points (2+4) in those games.
• Carter Hutton is 5-1-0 in six career appearances against Colorado with a .925 save percentage, including a 3-0-0 record and .951 save percentage last season.
• Casey Nelson scored his first NHL goal in his only previous meeting with the Avalanche on Feb. 11, when these teams last met.

Wednesday's practice

Zach Bogosian and Vladimir Sobotka were back on the ice. Johan Larsson practiced as well, but no word yet from coach Phil Housley on if either forward will return to the lineup for tonight's game. From the Ice Level Practice Report:

Zach Bogosian led the stretch at center ice to conclude practice at Harborcenter on Wednesday, his first skate with his Sabres teammates since late September.
He'll need a few more practices before making his season debut, but it was a step in the right direction.
"I felt nice to be back with the team," Bogosian said. "It's been a little bit. It felt good."
Bogosian has been out since sustaining a lower-body injury during the Sabres' preseason game in Clinton, N.Y. on Sept. 25. Phil Housley said the team is being cautious with the defenseman, who had season-ending hip surgery in January.
"I thought he looked really good being his first practice back with our group, a pretty good upbeat, up-tempo practice," Housley said. "A good sign he's able to get through it."

Bogosian admitted the delay has been difficult given the amount of time it's been since he's appeared in a regular-season game. The silver lining is that the Sabres began their season with four home games, which allowed him to be around his teammates.
"Mentally I feel good," he said. "That's one thing I can control, is what I think about and how I stay positive and how I can contribute as a teammate when I'm not in the lineup. I think any time you go through what I've been through, there's good days and bad days.
"But being around the guys has been great. I've had a lot of help with my family and just being around the guys, making me smile. It's not an easy thing to go through, it's not a fun thing to go through. I don't wish anyone to go through it. But I continue to grow from it."
More on improved passing and full line combinations here.

New Beyond Blue and Gold

Check out "Drafting Dahlin," the newest episode of our Emmy Award-winning behind-the-scenes series presented by New Era:

Looking into the future

The first edition of Sabres.com's revamped Prospects Update debuted yesterday. We'll have it here every Wednesday. This week, we caught up with goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who earned OHL Player of the Week honors after improving to 5-0-0 in his first season with Sudbury.

It's hard to imagine a better start to Luukkonen's junior career than the one that's transpired in Sudbury: wins in his first five starts, including a trio of road victories that earned him OHL Player of the Week honors. He made 99 saves in those games, good for a .952 save percentage.
Luukkonen ranks third in the OHL with a 1.78 GAA and fourth with a .944 save percentage. The number he's proudest of, however, is the 12 sitting next to Sudbury's name in the point column, good for first in the league.
"Of course, it's surprising. I didn't expect it," Luukkonen said of his scorching start. "But we have a good team and our team has been playing really well. It's easy to play behind those guys. So yeah, it's been a great start for the whole team. Maybe there's some guys who are surprised by it, but when we play like this, it's no surprise."
You can read more on Luukkonen, Matej Pekar and the other prospects in the pipeline here.

Today in Sabres history

1979: Lindy Ruff scores in his first NHL game, a 6-3 win against Washington, becoming the first Sabres defenseman ever to score in his NHL debut.