Sharpen Up: October 27, 2021 | Sabres hit the road after practice

The Buffalo Sabres will embark on a four-game road trip after today's practice.
It'll start in Anaheim tomorrow night. Faceoff against the Ducks, who are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Jets at home last night, will be at 10 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage on MSG will begin at 9:30 p.m.
Buffalo was off yesterday and will return to the ice later this morning. We'll have full practice coverage for you here on Sabres.com.
In the meantime, let's check in on the Rochester Americans, who will also be on the road this week.
Here's what you need to know.

Amerks on extended trip

Watch: Youtube Video
From Amerks.com's Practice Report:
It's been a while since the Rochester Americans hit the road for an actual road trip, however, this week that all changes as the team makes it way north of the border to continue its four-game swing. The Amerks are in Belleville on Wednesday to face-off against the Senators before taking on the Laval Rocket on back-to-back days as part of a two-game set.
After facing the same three teams, all of which are within a doable driving distance, during the 2020-21 campaign, it's been since Mar. 6 and 7 of 2020 that the Amerks have spent multiple nights on the road. Coincidentally, Rochester was wrapping up a two-game sweep of the Senators that weekend prior to the official shut down of the 2019-20 season.

With things being back to pretty much normal, the players and staff are more than excited to finally get to road tripping with one another.
"I love being on the road," stated Amerks head coach Seth Appert when asked how important a long road trip like this is this early in the season.
"When people looked at our schedule and were like, 'It's a bummer you're gone so much early,' and I'm like, 'No, this is awesome.'"
Appert then went on to add, "It's fun to go on the road. You get to know each other more, you get to go to dinner or whatever those things are and I think that really helps."

The Amerks hit the road Tuesday to continue their four-game Canadian road swing.
The team faced the Toronto Marlies on Saturday night in what turned out to be a rather lopsided 7-3 victory in favor of Rochester and this week they look to play Belleville tomorrow at the CAA Arena at 7 p.m. before they head to Laval to take on the Rocket in back-to-back matchups on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
You can read the full practice report here.

Quinn, Peterka leading Amerks in points

In our Amerks Updates yesterday, we took a look at rookie forwards Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka, who were both drafted by the Sabres last year. They currently first and second, respectively, in team scoring and among the AHL's leaders.
Quinn is currently tied for third in the AHL with six points (and is tied for the AHL lead with four goals) while Peterka has five points (and is tied for fifth in the league with four assists).
Amerks.com's Suzie Cool has the story:
Three games into the Rochester Americans 2021-22 season and one thing is very clear; the connection between young rookie forwards Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka is real. Never mind the fact they were taken 29 picks apart from one another by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2020 NHL Draft. These two are on a whole new level.
With any team, you never know how line combinations are going to work out and who is really going to mesh with one another once they hit the ice.

Amerks head coach Seth Appert knows this all too well after having to come up with a plethora of line combos last season with players constantly being recalled to the Buffalo Sabres, their taxi squad or signing to a professional tryout a day before a game.
However, Appert isn't surprised that Quinn and Peterka have found so much success already as they're two talented young prospects on the rise in the organization.
"They're two very talented players that both have a high work ethic. You never know what chemistry might exist as a coach, so you're always looking to tweak things."

Appert went on to talk about the pair saying, "Jack, even though he's playing wing, he's a play-driving winger, which if you have the puck a lot, then that allows JJ's speed to potentially become a real threat."
Read it in full here.