Ruff on Game 1 win: 'The sweetest of all of them'

In the aftermath of the Buffalo Sabres’ improbable Game 1 comeback, Lindy Ruff was asked if he had ever witnessed a game quite like that.

“Well, 1000 games, I think so,” the coach quipped.

Ruff sold himself short – he’s actually coached 2,071 games including playoffs, more than all but three men in the century-plus history of the NHL.

Ruff has coached in one Stanley Cup Final and four conference finals. He’s taken three different franchises to the playoffs.

And yet, as he sat at the podium late Sunday, Ruff didn’t hesitate: Game 1 against the Bruins, 2026, was his sweetest win yet.

“This one right here – right here, right now,” he said, echoing the words of another great Buffalo coach. “We just gotta go try to win one more. But this was probably the sweetest of all of them.” 

Ruff wasn’t asked to elaborate. He didn’t have to.

Sunday marked the culmination of one mission that began for Ruff in April 2024, and the latest step toward a loftier goal that he’s pursued since he arrived in Buffalo in 1979, then a 19-year-old from Alberta unknowingly landing in a new lifelong home.

Ruff would spend more than a decade as a Sabres player, then another as the franchise’s winningest coach. A press conference clip from late in that first coaching stint has circulated on social media of late in which Ruff is asked what kept him going back then (for perspective, this is more than a decade ago).

• Read more: Why Ruff should win the Jack Adams Award

“I want to win a Stanley Cup in Buffalo,” he says softly. “That’s what keeps me coming back. It’s as simple as that.”

That desire – not just to win, but to win for his home – never truly left Ruff, even as he left for Dallas and New Jersey. It’s what brought him back in 2024, nearly two years ago to the day from Sunday’s comeback.

The Sabres had not been to the playoffs since his departure. He was tasked with steering the franchise back where it belonged and, by extension, restoring the vibrant, all-consuming feeling that had for so long surrounded hockey in this town.

It was a challenge, he admitted. But that’s what made it worth it.

Sunday was that challenge realized: a full building before warmups even began, a sea of fans watching rowdily outside, deafening roars after Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson engineered the late, third-period comeback.

“You could feel the building shaking,” Ruff said.

How the Sabres handled the moment – down 2-0 with eight minutes to go in their first playoff game as a group and still managing to win 4-3 – is at least partially a testament to their coach.

For whatever the Buffalo dressing room lacks in playoff experience, whether that matters at all, the man steering the ship is as well-versed in springtime hockey as anyone on the planet.

“It’s definitely a sense of confidence with him there,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “He’s been through it so many times. He knows what to do in a playoff series and he knows what it takes.”

Ruff applied that experience in bracing his team for Game 1. He told his players to embrace the atmosphere and assured them they would be ready. He emphasized the importance of a strong first shift.

“Lindy said something to Quinner, Benny and I at the end of practice (on Saturday),” Josh Doan recalled as he approached his first playoff game. “It takes one shift to get playoff experience, and once you get that one shift underway, then you should be ready to go.”

Whether or not there were early-game jitters, the Sabres were able to fall back on their identity throughout Game 1. They were the hardworking, relentlessly checking team they’d been since December, generating lopsided leads in both shots (38-20) and hits (53-38) – the latter statistic significant against a Bruins team that had been public with its desire to assert itself physically.

Buffalo trailed 2-0 in large part because of Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman, until Thompson finally broke the dam. Players insisted there was never any doubt on the bench, even as time ticked away in the third period. They’d been there before, famously in the 8-7 thriller against Tampa last month.

Ruff implored them to treat the game one shift at a time, and they did.

“I told them right after the game, ‘You want experience? You got it now,’” Ruff said. “I mean, what an experience. If you're going to say this was my first playoff game, you've got a great story to tell.” 

A great story indeed. Ruff’s favorite among thousands.