Mike Harrington: Lindy Ruff created some morning mayhem and Sabres took their cue from it
VANCOUVER -- The message was sent Tuesday and, for once in this utterly bizarre Buffalo Sabres season, it was actually heard.
Buffalo Sabres' Jiri Kulich (20) and Rasmus Dahlin, back right, celebrate a goal by JJ Peterka against Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko (35) as
Quinn Hughes (43) and Teddy Blueger, back left, watch during the third period in Rogers Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
The message was sent Tuesday and, for once in this utterly bizarre Buffalo Sabres season, it was actually heard.
The seeds of a 3-2 comeback win over the Vancouver Canucks were planted more than 10 hours earlier in the morning quiet of Rogers Arena.
Lindy Ruff has tried to be a patient, gentler version of himself but it hasn't been easy. It was tough to watch him admit last month in Toronto, after one of the more galling losses of that 13-game winless streak, that he didn't know what to say anymore and it was up to him to solve what ails this club.
But there are so many things wrong here, from the ownership level to the overmatched hockey department and through the roster, that it's not really fair for Ruff or any other coach to take that responsibility on his own.
The Sabres mailed in much of Monday's 6-4 loss in Seattle, especially a weakling of a first period. It was a bad sign for the rest of what appears to be a lost season and that was it for Ruff. Normally you don't have a morning skate on the second day of a back to back. But Ruff had what he termed a "fairly lengthy" morning meeting Tuesday to dissect the Sleepy in Seattle affair and then move past it.
He told the players to get ready to skate and they did for nearly a half-hour. They did hard battle drills, including 2-on-2s, that you almost never see on gameday anymore. When he was satisfied, Ruff's voice echoed through the empty arena: "That's it. Get off (the ice)."
The players stretched at center ice, got up and Ruff waved his stick at them again and said, "get off." And they did. This was a day for the team's sport science department to zip it. Ruff was in charge. When I wanted to delve into the subject afterward, the conversation went like this:
Question: "So was this a case of 'If you're not going to battle yesterday, you're going to battle today?'"
Ruff: "That's what it was. Yes."
Question: "Were you planning to skate anyway because the first game was in the afternoon or did you skate in the wake of yesterday?
Ruff: "We decided to skate in the wake of yesterday."
There was no elaboration in either case. The point was clear. Ruff opened a window in Seattle when he said he was worried about his team's conditioning in the wake of all its third-period trouble this season.
After sleeping on that for a night, did he have any further thought?
"I'm looking for a reason that we can come out pretty well in the first and second period and always kind of tail off," he said. "Just searching for that answer."
Add the team's strength and conditioning department to the list of areas that need to be reviewed by whoever owner Terry Pegula hires as his president of hockey operations. The entire organizational structure is in question here, as it should be. Someday, Pegula will have to put aside his stubborn streak and fill that position.
When the game started, you saw lots of guys winning puck battles in all three zones and along the walls. Tage Thompson's goal in the first period gave the Sabres a 1-0 and was their NHL-leading 30th game-opening tally. They've scored first in each of the last seven games. You should be winning 75-80% of those games. The Sabres are just 14-11-5 when scoring first and those 16 losses are the most in the league.
Like they do most nights, they gave up time and space in the second period and the Canucks got two goals to take the lead. But for once, the Sabres didn't wither. JJ Peterka set up Jiri Kulich for a tying goal and the scored the game-winner off a Rasmus Dahlin feed with 6:27 left and the Sabres had their victory.
Kulich -- who is suddenly emerging as the team's No. 1 center -- had his first career three-point night in the NHL and his 9-11 record on faceoffs included victories to produce goals and preserve the lead.
"I thought we played a strong, strong third period," Ruff said. "We got traffic in front of (Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko), which I think we needed. He was seeing the puck pretty good."
The Sabres are second to Washington in total first period goals (55-52) and goal differential (plus-19 to plus 18). But things rapidly decline from there. They're minus-33 in the final 40 minutes of regulation. That's second last to Chicago (minus-36) and no one else is worse than minus-25.
When I asked captain Rasmus Dahlin about Ruff's conditioning comments following the morning skate, he was confused. I think he initially thought I was accusing the Sabres of being out of shape. I repeated the question and told him explicitly that "Lindy said this after the game yesterday" and he looked up at me, almost in amazement.
"It was one of those strange games ... but I know it can't happen again," Dahlin said. "The compete has to always be there. Then you can fix other stuff."
Vancouver had been 15-0-6 when leading after two periods this season while the Sabres were 2-17-0 and had lost nine straight when chasing after 40 minutes. Did Ruff scare his players straight?
"I'm sure whatever he says to you, he's saying a lot more to us in the room," said a smiling Thompson. "Probably all the same stuff too, but I think that's good. You want someone that's going to challenge you, and I think that tests your character and tests the character of the guys in the room."
The Sabres have failed far too many tests this season. Thompson's big takeaway was the team has to keep these lessons fresh and use them in both Calgary and Edmonton later this week. We're about to see what they learned.
