Sharpen Up: September 30, 2021 | Sabres prep for 2nd preseason game

The preseason rolls on tonight when the Buffalo Sabres head to Detroit.
It's a 7:30 p.m. faceoff from Little Caesars Arena. The Red Wings' feed of the game will air live in the Buffalo broadcast market here on Sabres.com.
We'll have full coverage from the morning skate today, which will include lineup news and notes.
Here's what you need to know.

Wednesday's practice

Following a thrilling 5-4 come-from-behind shootout win in Columbus on Tuesday, the Sabres were hard at work, practicing in two groups as training camp continues.
Here's how the two practice groups lined up:
Gold Group
53 Jeff Skinner - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 71 Victor Olofsson
91 Drake Caggiula - 74 Rasmus Asplund - 72 Tage Thompson
42 Brendan Warren - 20 Cody Eakin - 21 Kyle Okposo
73 Matej Pekar - 43 Sean Malone / 36 Ryan Scarfo - 51 Dominic Franco
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 10 Henri Jokiharju
8 Robert Hagg - 33 Colin Miller
75 Josh Teves - 13 Mark Pysyk
Blue Group
77 JJ Peterka - 24 Dylan Cozens - 15 John Hayden
57 Brett Murray - 25 Arttu Ruotsalainen - 22 Jack Quinn
96 Anders Bjork - 28 Zemgus Girgensons - 29 Vinnie Hinostroza
27 Michael Mersch - 49 Ryan MacInnis - 65 Linus Weissbach
4 Will Butcher - 6 Ethan Prow
78 Jacob Bryson - 64 Oskari Laaksonen
88 Brandon Davidson - 45 Casey Fitzgerald
67 Peter Tischke / 44 Jimmy Schuldt - 70 Mitch Eliot

Skinner ready to make an impact

The winger, entering his 12th NHL season, was the focus of Brian Duff's Training Camp Report, which you can watch here:

We also heard from Henri Jokiharju:

And Will Butcher:

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Butcher coming in 'with a hunger'

On the written side, Sabres.com's Jourdon LaBarber looked back at Butcher's game on Tuesday, which saw the new Sabres defenseman log a game-high 28:15 of ice time.
"It was a lot of minutes," Butcher said after practice Wednesday. "It didn't feel like that in the moment, but today I was hurting a little bit. But I felt good. I think I got better as the game went on."
The Sabres acquired Butcher along with a fifth-round draft pick in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on July 28. The Devils made the move to clear cap space after Butcher appeared in 23 games last season, spending large portions of the schedule as a healthy scratch.
"When a player can't play it's the worst thing in the world," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "They're players. They want to play. And he experienced that last year. He wasn't allowed to play and was a healthy scratch for numerous games. He comes in with a hunger."
Read more the full report here.

Preseason broadcast schedule

In case you missed it the first two times, here's how you can watch every Sabres preseason game this year:
Thursday, September 30 at Detroit Red Wings
• 7:30 p.m. faceoff from Little Caesars Arena
• Streaming: Sabres.com within the local broadcast market (Red Wings feed)
• Radio: WGR 550
Friday, October 1 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
• 7 p.m. faceoff from KeyBank Center
• Tickets are on sale now
• Streaming: Sabres.com within the local broadcast market (Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call with Brian Duff and Martin Biron featured during pregame, intermissions and postgame)
• Radio: WGR 550
Monday, October 4 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
• 7 p.m. faceoff from KeyBank Center
• Tickets are on sale now
• Streaming: Sabres.com within the local broadcast market (Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call with • Brian Duff and Martin Biron featured during pregame, intermissions and postgame)
• Radio: WGR 550
Tuesday, October 5 at Pittsburgh Penguins
• 7 p.m. faceoff from PPG Paints Arena
• TV: MSG (AT&T Sports feed)
• Radio: WGR 550
Saturday, October 9 vs. Detroit Red Wings
• 3 p.m. faceoff from KeyBank Center
• Tickets are on sale now
• TV: MSG (Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call with Brian Duff and Martin Biron featured during pregame, intermissions and postgame)
• Radio: WGR 550
Dan and Rob will be broadcasting every game on WGR 550 as well.
The preseason games streamed live on Sabres.com are subject to NHL blackout restrictions.