Sharpen Up: February 2, 2022 | All-Star Weekend is now upon us

The Buffalo Sabres wrapped up their three-game road trip last night with a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
Alex Tuch scored in his first game against his former club, John Hayden tallied his first goal as a member of the Sabres, and Craig Anderson made 29 saves.
Buffalo will be back in action on Thursday, February 10 with a home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The extended break is due to All-Star Weekend, which begins Friday in Las Vegas.
The game is one of seven games that was rescheduled due to COVID-19. Tickets are on sale now.
Here's what you need to know.

A look back at last night

Sabres.com's Jourdon LaBarber was in Vegas and has the recap for you:
Alex Tuch will remember his return to Las Vegas. He saluted the crowd inside T-Mobile Arena following an emotional tribute video and scored against his former team.
His message to teammates entering the All-Star break, however, is to allow the details of what happened in a 5-2 loss in Vegas to stay there for the time being.
"Honestly, going into the break I hope guys don't even think about hockey," Tuch said. "It's a really good time to reset. We've got a really young group and there's a lot of guys that haven't even been through this bye week, whatever you want to call it.
"… You can reminisce over this game for about 10 minutes and then guys, especially the younger guys should go relax and enjoy themselves."

The Sabres have seven days between now and their next game, a meeting with the Blue Jackets on Feb. 10. Their loss to the Golden Knights completed a stretch of three games in four days out west, a trip that was complicated by injuries and a series of false positive tests for COVID-19.
The Sabres overcame a depleted lineup to win in Arizona on Saturday and played a tight game against the Western Conference's top team in Colorado on Sunday. They fell behind early to Vegas, allowing Rielly Smith to open the scoring on an odd-man rush during the opening minute.
Vegas continued to capitalize on its chances, building a 4-0 lead by the time five minutes had passed in the second period. Brett Howden scored off a turnover in the Buffalo zone. Jonathan Marchessault scored a power-play goal and Keegan Kolesar added one shorthanded.
"I think it was indicative of just missing it tonight mentally," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "Just mentally we're not as sharp and it manifests physically. Again, it just took us too long to snap into it in each period and throughout the game. We could never consistently do what we do when we're rolling. Just parts. Flashes here and flashes there. Even when we generated chances, we didn't convert."
Former Golden Knights Tuch, Cody Eakin and Peyton Krebs were recognized together during a video tribute that played inside T-Mobile Arena to thunderous applause. The crowd cheered again when Tuch scored Buffalo's first goal, a shot from the right faceoff circle during the second period.

Click here for the full Postgame Report.

Looking ahead to All-Star Weekend

Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin will remain in Vegas to be part of All-Star Weekend festivities.
It'll be his first All-Star appearance.
Click here for more on what to expect this weekend
Catch the All-Star Skills competition on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. The All-Star Game will air on Saturday at 3 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+.

Orrison Pilgrim's historic journey to the NHL

Our friends over at Amerks.com have a feature story on their website about Rochester Americans assistant athletic trainer Kedryn Orrison Pilgrim who is believed to have become just the third woman to work an NHL game from behind the bench when she was called up to the Sabres this past weekend.

Here's an excerpt from that article:
After a weekend of back-to-back action for the Amerks and taking on the head responsibilities, opportunity came knocking once more for Orrison Pilgrim over the weekend.
As more and more players continued to enter COVID-19 protocols for the Sabres, so too were staff members who were finding themselves in the same predicament. Which, of course, only meant that Orrison Pilgrim was the next one in line to get her much-deserved call-up to the National Hockey League.
When did opportunity come knocking, though? As soon as Orrison Pilgrim was wrapping up her duties after the Amerks took on the Comets on Saturday night at Blue Cross Arena she found out about her cross-country trek she was about to make. Making things even more interesting, she would by flying out the very next morning along with a handful of Amerks players summoned to the Sabres taxi squad.
"Pretty much after the game, especially with all of the positive tests. I got the official word after the game and so I was kind of running around trying to finish up stuff here, trying to find my clothes and pack when I got home and then we flew out the next morning nice and early," she said.

While Buffalo continued its four-game swing on Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche, the news would break right before puck drop.
Orrision Pilgrim had been called up to assist Amerks head athletic trainer Michael Dhesse behind the Sabres bench, making her just the third woman in NHL history to hold this position during a regular-season game according to the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society and Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Managers.
Read the full story here.

Better Together donations continue to roll in

Thanks to everyone who has supported the Better Together fundraising initiative so far this week. Stay tuned to BuffaloBills.com today to learn about the next organization that will receive a donation.
Fans can continue to donate now through Friday at BetterTogetherBuffalo.org.

Yesterday, the Sabres announced that the Buffalo Sabres Foundation has donated $15,000 to the Buffalo Center for Health Equity. Read more about the important work they're doing here.

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