Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Through everything that happened on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings, the Buffalo Sabres did have a power play with 2:19 left to go in regulation time. A goal would’ve given the Sabres the lead, and a good chance to come away with two points and sending the Red Wings home with none.
It didn’t work out that way, as the Sabres couldn’t even enter the zone, and the game eventually reached overtime.
In the team's last nine games, Buffalo is 1-for-24 with the extra man. Overall this season, the Sabres are 30th in the NHL at 14.5%.
It sounded like the only reason Ruff got his team on the ice on Tuesday was to practice the power play. Ruff knows what the problems are, and it's now about executing them.
"90% of it is making the right play at the right time. That decision you make when you’re coming up ice," said Ruff following Tuesday's skate. "Almost everybody is denying the line in a one-three set, it’s making that right decision and then the next play, you have to make the right decision. Sometimes, that’s back to the strong side point man, and that pass has to be quick and it has to be efficient. And whatever that right play is, we’re not making it right now. There’s frustration with it, and you can see that with the way they execute it."
As far as what Ruff saw with the power play in practice on Tuesday, he was not happy.
"To be honest, I didn’t like today’s power play practice. We’re going to work on it again. This is something that we’ve got to fix," Ruff noted.
"It was too slow, and that’s probably in the game too. Let’s quicken things up. The next play or the right play isn’t there quick enough for the group.
"I talked to a few guys on the bench, 'That’s not going to work this way.' It’s not going to work, and we’ve got to change that approach. We’re not making those decisions quick enough now."
Ruff has said many times that this team needs to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The question now is how does he get a team there?
"We had them there for a lot of games earlier in the year, and I think losing does that to you," Ruff said. "Remain positive, talk about the right play at the right time. Your partner can help you out with making that right play by being more vocal. And believe in what you’re doing, and when the game gets stressed, help each other out."
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Ruff said Tuesday that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson should be ready for Wednesday’s game against the New York Rangers.
Buffalo sent Tyson Kozak back to the Rochester Americans on Tuesday after he played three games with the Sabres. For the most part, Ruff liked what he saw in the 21-year-old’s first NHL action.
"The message to him was it was a good showing," he said of the 2021 seventh-round pick. "I thought last night, a little defensively he got run a little bit. I thought his first game was almost a model game defensively for a first game, which you don’t usually expect. But a great two games for a young man who was just stepping in, playing his first two NHL games."
Meanwhile, Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, once again, watched much of practice from the bench. Ruff says he’s still progressing, as he deals with back spasms.