News and notes
1. In the wake of Saturday’s 6-2 loss to Seattle, a game which Buffalo led 2-0 after 20 minutes, the Sabres on Monday addressed their lack of second- and third- period offense.
“We went with what we thought was a highly competitive practice,” Ruff said. “A lot of 1-on-1, 2-on-2, down-low stuff.
“I think we deferred to outside, last game. We started the game, if you looked at (Sam) Lafferty, he shot – just getting the puck to the net – it just went off a stick, went in. I thought the second period, we deferred to try to look for a high-skilled play on the perimeter. We had good zone time, but we didn’t generate good opportunities.”
Indeed, the Kraken outshot Buffalo 14-9 in the second period, tying the game with a pair of late tallies before adding four goals in the third.
2. Ruff also acknowledged the type of sudden swing, seen Saturday and several times this season, where the Sabres lose a once-firm grasp on a game.
“We’ve been a team, since the start of the year, that’s had a tough time dealing with, inside the game, a little bit of adversity,” Ruff said. “Whether it’s a lucky goal to start a third or we make a bad play – we’ve compounded that.”
On Saturday, Oliver Bjorkstand scored the go-ahead goal for Seattle at the 3:08 mark of the third period, his in-tight shot taking an unfortunate bounce off Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson and into the net. Kaapo Kakko added a couple goals in the next few minutes to give the Kraken a commanding lead.
“We haven’t had the next couple lines come out and say, ‘That ain’t gonna happen again,’” Ruff continued. “To lose in that style… You’ve got to hate losing more than you like winning.”