Sharpen Up: October 20, 2018

The Sabres face the Los Angeles Kings tonight in the City of Angels.
It's a 3:30 p.m. ET faceoff, but be sure to join Brian Duff and Martin Biron on the GMC Game Night pregame show starting at 3 p.m. on MSG. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will take it from there once the puck is ready to drop. You can also listen on WGR 550.
Here's what you need to know.

Tonight's matchup

Via @SabresPR…

• Jack Eichel has five points (3+2) in five career games against Los Angeles.
• Patrik Berglund has recorded a point in each of his last three games against the Kings (1+2).
• Kyle Okposo has totaled five assists in his last four games against Los Angeles.
• Jason Pominville has recorded six points (1+5) in his last five games against the Kings.
• Linus Ullmark stopped 20 of 21 shots (.952) in his only previous meeting with Los Angeles on Dec. 12, 2015 in Buffalo to earn the fifth win of his NHL career.

Friday's practice

From the Ice Level Practice Report…
Coming off a pair of losses in Las Vegas and San Jose, the Buffalo Sabres took the ice for practice on Friday with new looks both at even strength and on the power play.
Among the changes that were made at forward: Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville moved to a line centered by Jack Eichel while Evan Rodrigues moved from center to the left wing alongside Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo.
On defense, Jake McCabe partnered with Rasmus Ristolainen while Marco Scandella paired with Casey Nelson. Zach Bogosian and Nathan Beaulieu took maintenance days, so forward Remi Elie skated on a pair with Rasmus Dahlin.

Here's how the lineup looked in its entirety:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 29 Jason Pominville
71 Evan Rodrigues - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 21 Kyle Okposo
43 Conor Sheary - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 23 Sam Reinhart
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 22 Johan Larsson - 10 Patrik Berglund / 72 Tage Thompson
19 Jake McCabe - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Marco Scandella - 8 Casey Nelson
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 81 Remi Elie*
*Forward filling in on defense
"We talked about making decisions on a day-to-day, game-by-game [basis]," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "Obviously, we didn't get the results, so we've got to make some decisions and try to put some new lines together today to see the chemistry. I thought we had a really good practice today."
The power-play units also underwent some changes, with Dahlin joining the top unit:
PP1: Eichel, Skinner, Mittelstadt, Pominville, Dahlin
PP2: Sheary, Reinhart, Okposo, Rodrigues, Ristolainen
Will those changes stick? Stick with us today to find out.

Amerks win again

Watch: Youtube Video
From the Amerks.com game recap…
Despite seeing their two-goal lead slip away, the Rochester Americans (5-2-0-0) went a perfect 3-for-3 in the shootout to come away with a 5-4 win over the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies (1-4-0-1) Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
The victory give the Amerks five straight, marking their longest stretch since winning the first five games of April during the 2013-14 campaign.
Danny O'Regan tallied his second multi-point game as he netted his second and third goals of the season while Zach Redmond notched a pair of assists in the victory, pushing his point streak to six games.
Alex Nylander also extended his point streak to a career-best six games as he notched his third goal of the slate while Brendan Guhle recorded his first marker of the campaign to push his point streak to four straight outings. Nylander shows eight points (3+5) in his last six outings while Guhle has posted a goal and four helpers during his streak.
Goaltender Scott Wedgewood earned his third consecutive win after starting the season winless in his first two appearances for Rochester.
The Amerks make their final trip of October and first of the season across the border tonight to face the Belleville Senators at CAA Arena. Game time is slated for a 7 p.m. start and can be heard live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester and viewed on AHLTV.