Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres started off their 2024-25 regular season this past weekend on the wrong foot in Prague, Czechia. The Sabres dropped back-to-back games to the New Jersey Devils, and are now off to an 0-2-0 start.
This was the first time the Sabres had played any regular season action in Europe since 2019 when they played the Tampa Bay Lightning in Sweden as part of the NHL Global Series. This was also the first time since 2011 that Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff has taken part in the trip overseas, which has always provided a unique challenge for teams and coaches alike.
"I don't think it was that big a challenge. Your practice schedule kind of stays the same. Obviously, you're not in your building, but that part of putting together a plan for the week was fairly normal," said Ruff during his weekly appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "You go back to Game 1, and probably the part I would like to see better was we had some really good opportunities that we didn't capitalize on. It seemed to me like, some of our guys seemed a little bit nervous, the opportunities were there to finish the plays. When you're under pressure and when you're in that spot, can you execute and make the big play? I just felt we left too many big plays out there. We didn't make them pay for their big mistakes."
The Sabres dropping games early on in the season seems to be a recurring theme for the organization over the years, and one that the new head coach hopes to change quickly.
"If you broke down the start of Game 1, we had three really good opportunities to score that we didn't take advantage of," Ruff said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "Their first opportunity was poor puck play, breaking out of the zone. So their first opportunity to score, they put it in the back of the net on a poor play by us. It falls on execution. Those three opportunities were big mistakes they made, and we didn't take advantage of it. All of a sudden, we make a big mistake, they take advantage of it, and we're talking about a bad start."
Now that the Sabres have returned from their trip abroad, they have begun to return to a, somewhat, normal practice schedule. Along with that, the team is finalizing preparations for their home opener on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings at KeyBank Center.
"We've put a lot of work into this training camp. We put a lot of work into the games we played, and obviously we didn't get the results," Ruff said. "I feel in Game 1, we could have had the results. I thought [they had a] couple incredible saves by their goaltender. The early saves that kept us off the board were difference makers. But we're back in our building. We get to control what we need to control in our own building. We just talked about how we want to start out, but it it is about bringing the energy, bringing the enthusiasm. I think when you play overseas, it doesn't really feel like the start, but we know now that we're in the thick of it."
On the injury front, winger JJ Peterka is considered day-to-day, and has yet to be ruled out of Thursday night's home opener with a concussion. Ruff said Peterka would skate Tuesday, but was set to do so away from the team.
In addition, Ruff was hopeful forward Zach Benson was able to return to practice on Tuesday following a lower-body injury. As for winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Ruff says he will be out for a "longer period of time".
Puck drop for Thursday night's home opener at KeyBank Center is slated for 7 p.m. ET. Pregame coverage on WGR starts at 6 p.m. ET with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.