‘Wonderful place to be’ | Ruff embraces challenge as Sabres face elimination

It’s do-or-die time now for the Buffalo Sabres, who return to Montreal trailing the second-round series 3-2 and facing elimination for the first time these playoffs.

The focus is squarely on Saturday’s Game 6 (8 p.m. on ABC). Buffalo didn’t practice or meet before Friday’s flight, and it might not take a morning skate in Montreal.

• Game 5 analysis | Despite early surge, Sabres pushed to brink

“I know the pressure they're feeling, I know how they feel, I know how much they care,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “I just feel a day away from the rink, not coming here, is a good thing. We don't need to watch video today. We don't need to talk about the game. We need to move on.

“There's only one game that counts now, and that is the game tomorrow. All likelihood, we may not even skate tomorrow. We'll save everything we’ve got for tomorrow night. That's my initial thoughts right now.”

Ruff discussed that and other topics in his Friday morning media availability. The highlights:

On Owen Power, who briefly exited the Game 5 loss after a third-period crash into the boards:

“He’s in right now getting treatment. All I can offer is he said he’s feeling pretty good, better than he thought he’d feel, so that’s encouraging.”

On what gives him confidence in the Sabres as they face elimination:

“You go through last year’s adversity and all the stuff this year, and the team has responded almost to every challenge we’ve had. This is a completely different challenge, being involved in an elimination game where, now, every mistake could mean the end for you. But every opportunity you get to take advantage of could mean we go on to play Game 7.”

On the Sabres not continuing to challenge Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes, who allowed three goals on the first four shots in Game 5:

“We talked about it after the period that we thought we let him off the hook. We came out of the corner a couple times, and we had clear lanes to shoot pucks, and we deferred to a better play. I think we've talked about this at length throughout the year, that sometimes our ability to make plays, we sometimes defer to that better play.

“We had the puck going to the net early, we got rewarded for it. We just didn't quite stay with it. Probably there was four or five opportunities to get a puck there quicker last night that could have kept them in chaos.”

On rotating defensive pairs in Games 4 and 5, and not having righties Conor Timmins and Luke Schenn on the ice together:

“It's pretty well what we've done all year. A lot of times, it's kept one of our top four D on the ice all the time. And then we've got that lefty-righty connection even when we've dressed two right.

“You look at Game 6 (in Boston), it was heavy on your top four. When you get in games like this, your best players have to be the guys that are out there playing the most. They've got to be the difference makers.”

On the challenge of this series and the opportunity ahead of the Sabres:

“This is a good team we're playing. It's hard hockey. The last team we played was a good team, too. It was hard hockey. It went down to six games.

“I look at it right now, what is there, five teams left? To be sitting here talking to you guys, I think that it's a wonderful place to be. And I'll tell the team the same thing. We get to go to Montreal in Game 6 in the middle of May to move on to a Game 7.

“I think we’ll all be evaluated on what this game looks like. Just bring your best.”

Up next

Game 6 is Saturday at 8 p.m. on ABC.

As always, Brian Duff and Marty Biron’s pregame and postgame shows will be available on MSG, the Sabres’ social channels and the Buffalo Sabres App.

Info and tickets: Game 6 watch party at KeyBank Center