Sharpen Up: All the Sabres news you need to know on January 10, 2020

Following last night's 5-1 loss in St. Louis, the Buffalo Sabres will be back at KeyBank Center today. Stay tuned to Sabres.com and our social media channels for full coverage of today's practice.
Then they'll host the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow afternoon. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. with the GMC Game Night pregame show starting at 12:30 on MSG. Tickets are on sale now.
Here's what you need to know.

Looking back at last night

From the Postgame Report…
An early deficit proved insurmountable for the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday at Enterprise Center.
Sabres coach Ralph Krueger had emphasized the importance of starting strong against a St. Louis team that entered the night with a 19-0-5 record when scoring first. The Blues struck quickly, however, taking the lead on a Robert Thomas goal just 4:47 into the contest.
Thomas assisted on a goal from Tyler Bozak later in the period to make it 2-0. The two linemates finished the night with three points each.
"It was definitely not the look we wanted after five minutes and breaking down as we did there was very disappointing," Krueger said. "It looked like we had trouble getting up to the speed that we needed to in the first period."

Jack Eichel scored the lone goal for the Sabres, which cut the deficit in half early in the second period. The Blues never relented, responding first with a power-play goal from David Perron later in the period and then with a pair of markers from Alexander Steen in the third.
It was the sort of persistent, grinding game that newly acquired forward Michael Frolik came to expect from the reigning Stanley Cup champions during his time in the Western Conference.
"It's always a lot of battles there and they play the right way," Frolik said. "It's never easy against them. … You need to play the ugly game and be kind of patient. When you're behind them, when they're up, they even tighten up more defensively and it's not easy to beat them."
The four-day layover had no effect on Eichel, who extended his point streak to five games. His goal was his 27th in 43 games this season, already just one shy of matching his career high.
The play began with a stretch pass from Rasmus Dahlin to Sam Reinhart, who then delivered a one-touch pass to Eichel as he entered the zone. Eichel squeezed by defenseman Vince Dunn as he wrapped behind the St. Louis net, then buried his shot from the high slot.

Click here to read the full recap.

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