Sharpen Up: October 13, 2017

Jason Pominville scored twice for his second multi-goal outing of the young season, but it's the result that matters. Buffalo dropped a 4-2 decision last night to the Sharks in San Jose to bring their record to 0-3-1.
Here's what you need to know.

The Sabres have not held a lead in a game since opening night and the trend continued at SAP Center last night. San Jose struck first, just 2:15 into the contest thanks to a power-play goal by Tomas Hertl. The teams traded goals the rest of the night and Timo Meier's strike with 5:30 remaining in the second period proved to be the winner.

With one point in their first four games, the Sabres are off to their slowest start since the 2013-14 campaign.

"We've got to just figure out a way to be sick of losing," Jack Eichel, who had two assists, said after the game last night. "I know I'm sick of losing, there's a lot of guys who are sick of losing. But there's a difference between playing hard and playing hard and smart. We've got to execute our game. All the way through the lineup, myself included, we've just got to be sick of losing."
Eichel (1+4), Pominville (4+1) and Evander Kane (4+2) have led the way for Buffalo, but they're currently the only three players on the team with a crooked number in the goal column. Zemgus Girgensons (0+2), Rasmus Ristolainen (0+2), Ryan O'Reilly (0+1) and Seth Griffith (0+1) are the only other players with points through four games.

One way to generate more offense? Create more traffic in front of the opposing goaltender.
"You're not going to beat goalies if you don't have anyone in front of the net," Robin Lehner, who made 23 saves, said. "I think Martin] Jones saw every shot today. It's not to be on anyone, but we've got to recognize it as a team."
**[From the game recap:** While the Sabres did cut down on their mistakes, the ones they did make led to pucks in the back of their net. After Tomas Hertl opened the scoring for San Jose on the power play, the Sharks got their second and third goals from Chris Tierney and Timo Meier on defensive-zone breakdowns.

"Those things we're going to have to correct," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I think the guys realize that they're close. You can't fault them for that. We've got to recognize that it's going to be hard for us to get out of this. Hopefully this makes us a better team going forward."

One cool little tidbit about Pominville's performance (other than that, statistically, he's off to the best start of his career)?

Those goal scorers were Marcus Foligno, Drew Stafford, Cody Hodgson and Steve Ott.

What's coming up

Buffalo is schedule to practice later this afternoon at Staples Center in Los Angeles. We'll have a full Ice Level practice report from Jourdon and a Sabres Now video feature from Dan as the Sabres look to put the Sharks game behind them and begin to focus on Saturday's match against the Kings.
Game time tomorrow is set for 10:30 p.m. but join us first for the GMC Game Night pregame show at 10 p.m. on MSG. Marty will back and we're sure he'll have a lot to say on the set with Duffer. RJ and Rayzor have the call, and Dan will be on-hand as well to provide you with in-game interviews throughout the broadcast.

Bowl-A-Rama is back

One more thing for you today.

Yesterday, the Sabres announced that the Bowl-A-Rama celebrity bowling tournament presented by Dave & Adam's will return on Wednesday, Nov. 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Buffalo Sabres Foundation.
Bowl-A-Rama will take place at Transit Lanes (7850 Transit Rd., Williamsville, NY 14221). The event will include auctions, prizes, live entertainment, food and beverages, and an open bar. Each bowling team will have an opportunity to bowl with a celebrity Sabres guest, including players, alumni and broadcast personalities.
This will be a 21-and-older event.
To register a team or to get more information, please visit www.sabres.com/bowling or contact Teresa Belbas by phone at (716) 855-4588 or via email at [email protected].
Registration is currently underway for teams and sponsorship packages:
Team - $1,250
Includes: One bowling team consisting of five participants, five Sabres bowling shirts and five tournament gifts.
Lounge Sponsor - $2,500
Includes: Corporate logo in the lounge, sponsor recognition on Sabres.com and promotional materials, one bowling team consisting of five participants, five Sabres bowling shirts, one team-autographed Sabres bowling ball, one team-autographed Sabres bowling pin, 10 tournament gifts, and five guest tickets. Current sponsors for this level include: MSG Networks and Lightower Fiber Networks
Lane Sponsor - $5,000
Includes: Corporate logo on the lanes, sponsor recognition on Sabres.com and promotional materials, one bowling team consisting of five participants, five Sabres bowling shirts, one autographed Sabres jersey, one team-autographed Sabres bowling ball, one team-autographed Sabres bowling pin, 15 tournament gifts, and 10 guest tickets. Current sponsors for this level include: BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, KeyBank and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.