Sharpen Up: October 18, 2021 | Sabres look to extend great start tomorrow

Happy Monday. The Sabres are tied atop the Atlantic Division following their 2-1 shootout win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Buffalo is off to a 2-0-0 start and will try to keep things rolling tomorrow night with a home game against the Vancouver Canucks. Tickets are on sale now.
First, the team will return to practice today. We'll have full coverage for you here on Sabres.com, including a first look at defenseman Christian Wolanin, who was claimed off waivers from Los Angeles during Saturday afternoon's game.
Here's what you need to know.

Saturday's recap

Cody Eakin scored Buffalo's lone goal in regulation and Arttu Ruotsalainen netted his first-career shootout attempt to lift the Sabres to victory over Arizona. Dustin Tokarski made 20 saves plus two more in the shootout.
Let's take a quick look back on the win over Arizona, courtesy of the Postgame Report by Sabres.com's Jourdon LaBarber:
Cody Eakin offered up a new adjective to describe the 2-0-0 Buffalo Sabres after their shootout win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Several descriptors have been thrown around since the team convened for training camp three weeks ago. Some players have used "relentless" to describe their preferred style under coach Don Granato. Veteran goalie Craig Anderson described the team as being young and naïve in its tireless approach.
Eakin's choice?
Annoying.
"We are harder to play against," Eakin said. "We are always playing with speed on the forecheck, the backcheck, and it just kind of gets annoying, I think, to other teams.
"Not that there's a big number of games that we've showed it, but consistently play like that - just playing as a team with speed, moving pucks up, funneling back, really just cutting off their rush before it starts - we're going to be hard to play against."

The Sabres controlled the game more than the 2-1 final suggested. They finished with significant advantages in shots (33-21) and 5-on-5 scoring chances (23-11), according to Natural Stat Trick. They maintained possession for long portions of the 3-on-3 overtime period.
Read the full recap here.
The Sabres power play went 1-for-2 and were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. This season, Buffalo is 4-for-8 with the man advantage and 6-for-6 while down a man.

Adding Wolanin

The Buffalo Sabres have claimed defenseman Christian Wolanin off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings, the team announced Saturday. Defenseman Henri Jokiharju was placed on injured reserve before the game as he deals with a lower-body injury sustained on Thursday.
Wolanin, 26, tallied three assists in 18 games last season with Ottawa and Los Angeles. The left-shot defenseman has appeared in 61 NHL games spanning five seasons.
After further diagnosis, Sabres coach Don Granato said after the game that Jokiharju will be out longer than the original estimate of a few weeks.
Buffalo is also missing center Casey Mittelstadt, who will miss at least two weeks with an upper-body injury.

Amerks lose season opener

The Rochester Americans opened their 66th season in the American Hockey League with a 6-2 loss to the intrastate rival Utica Comets Sunday afternoon at the Adirondack Bank Center.
Rochester scored twice in the opening frame on the strength of goals from Jack Quinn and Casey Fitzgerald, while Sean Malone (0+2) registered his first multi-point outing of the season with two assists. Defensemen Oskari Laaksonen and Brandon Davidson both chipped in an assist in the defeat.
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen earned the start in the net and made 18 saves but suffered the loss.
Rookie forwards Alexander Holtz (2+0) and Tyce Thompson (0+2) both recorded a pair of points for Utica while Fabian Zetterlund produced two assists. Reilly Walsh recorded a career-high three-point night as he chipped in three helpers. Ryan Schmelzer, Nikita Okhotiuk, Aarne Talvitie and former Amerk Brian Flynn rounded out the scoring.
Utica's rookie netminder Nico Daws made his first official professional start, getting the win thanks to a 25-save effort. After surrendering a pair of goals in the first 20 minutes of play, Daws blanked the Amerks over the final 40 minutes of regulation.
Jimmy Schuldt, Ethan Prow, Linus Weissbach, Lukas Craggs, Josh Teves, Ryan MacInnis and JJ Peterka all made their Amerks debut.
Read Amerks.com's full recap here.

What's next

We'll have full coverage of practice for you today. Maybe we'll see Wolanin in a Sabres uniform on the ice. We'll also have a Prospects Update so stay tuned.