Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have only had two practices with Lindy Ruff as head coach, and they’re finding out you’ll either do things his way, or you won’t play.
During Thursday's practice, one team had a bad change and he got that team off the bench, made them do down-and-back sprints, and then push ups.
Jiri Kulich was last when it came to down-and-back, and I’d advise the 20-year-old as a player trying to fight his way onto the roster, that wasn’t a good look, because Ruff notices those things.
For two days, there’s been speed, pace, a little bit of hitting, battles in front of the net. And when things are done wrong, the whistle blows, drills are stopped, and it’s done again.
"No bad habits. Whether that’s using your hand in the D-zone and hooking. I mean, if we’re going to see a penalty, I’m going to stop the play," said Ruff following Thursday's practice. "The one thing I don’t like is I don’t like careless penalties. It’s one thing that we get to control, so use your legs to backcheck, don’t use your stick."
Rasmus Dahlin watched practice from the bench on Thursday, and Ryan Johnson took his place.
Ruff says Dahlin is dealing with a middle-body injury.
"He’s doing well. He’ll just probably miss a couple days of practice, so nothing too serious," he noted.
The players are definitely working hard, as they’re dragging as they come off the ice.
"Yesterday was a good day. Today we wanted to have a better day, and I feel we have. So you move on from each day, you make gradual gains," Ruff said.
"We worked really hard on the offensive side of it today, and part of the drills were angling, making sure we were getting above people, and we’re not giving up the type of goals we gave up."
With the moves that have been made, the Sabres will be much more physical this season, and they’ll also be quite a bit faster. It’s what Ruff wanted to see done to help this team get better.
"There is some non-negotiables, and some of that physicality is that we need to end plays. We’ve got to become a better team at stalling plays, and getting out of the zone in a hurry. A lot of those can be done by eliminating the first man," Ruff explained.
Last season, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played 54 games in goal, becoming the Sabres' No. 1 netminder. He had never played more than 33 games in the NHL beforehand, and Ruff has a history of riding goalies.
In his four years coaching the Dallas Stars, Kari Lehtonen played 65 games twice, and 59 games in another year.
When asked how he’ll handle Luukkonen and Devon Levi in goal, Ruff admitted he doesn't have an answer for that right now.
"I think the answer will become what happens during the play, how they play, how 'UPL' is still playing, how Devon plays when he steps in. That will dictate how many games," he said.
"I really feel, for the most part, we’ve become a two-goaltender league. For Devon’s development, he needs to play, so we’ll have to weigh that as the season unfolds."
With Johnson in practice, the defensive pairs changed a bit on Thursday:
Byram – Power
Bryson – Clifton
Gilbert – Johnson
Samuelsson - Jokiharju
