The Buffalo Sabres seek their first win of the season as they take on the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday at KeyBank Center.
Despite showing flashes of offense – a third-period surge in Boston, an energetic first period Monday versus Colorado – the Sabres haven’t yet maintained that performance across 60 minutes. The result? Just two goals and an 0-3-0 start.
In a perfect world, coach Lindy Ruff explained, Buffalo’s skilled forwards would run wild and generate steady offense on the rush. But with opponents clogging the neutral zone to defend against that approach, it’s on the Sabres to better support their puck carriers and win battles into the offensive zone.
“I don’t think it’s anything to do with schematics; I think we have to get behind people quicker,” Ruff said after Tuesday’s practice. “… When you look at our entries, I need more effort. The focus on today’s meeting, which was lengthy, was the effort once we reach the other team’s blue line: it has to be greater than their effort to defend.”
When the Sabres have created scoring chances, they haven’t capitalized enough, missing the net on roughly a quarter of their shot attempts. And the power play is off to an 0-for-11 start.
“You’ve got to take advantage of those when you break a team down; we didn’t,” added Ruff, who also wants his defensemen jumping into the offense a bit more often.
The Senators have suffered from some leaky defense and goaltending to start the season, so Wednesday could be a get-right opportunity for Buffalo. Here’s what you need to know before puck drop at 7 p.m.
