Lindy Ruff is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award

Boston, MA (WGR 550) - On Friday the National Hockey League announced that Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award. The NHL defines the award as “the head coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”

Joining Ruff as finalists are Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ruff spoke Friday morning as his team gets ready for Game 6 of their best of seven series with the Boston Bruins leading three games to two. He said this honor is more than just him,

“That just means that our coaching staff did one helluva job. This isn’t a one-man job and the hours that these guys have put in and where we got to, a complete team effort.”

Since last season Ruff has championed Mattias Samuelsson and he has turned into one of the team’s best defensemen. He is very happy for his coach and not surprised he was nominated,

“He set a goal coming back to Buffalo and I think he’s provided the group with what we needed to be successful, so it’s pretty cool, I’m happy for him.”

There are different things that make coaches who they are. Samuelsson said,

“I just think he’s good at pushing the right buttons. I think last year might have been a little bit of a feeling out process, him learning the group, us learning the way he wants us to play, but I think this year he’s been really good, teaching us a lot of details about the game, obviously we have a lot of skill and talent, but things away from the puck, he’s been really good at this year.”

Samuelsson likes the way that when they lose a game, Ruff keeps things pretty positive.

The team didn’t have a morning skate, and Logan Stanley is still a game-time decision after falling ill the last few days and missing practice on Thursday. Ruff said,

“He’ll skate this morning and we’ll just make that a game-time decision.”

If Stanley can’t go, Michael Kesselring will jump in and play his first game of the series. Ruff has liked the work he’s seen from his defenseman to stay ready,

“He’s really worked hard, he’s done a lot of work post-practice, during practice, I’ve really liked how he’s skating, probably skating as well now as he’s skated post all the injuries he’s dealt with.”

We all noticed in Game 5 that the Sabres weren’t as fast getting in on the Bruins defense which had been causing turnovers. There's a thing in the rule book called interference, but it’s never called if players interfere with forecheckers trying to get into the zone. Ruff said it happened all through Game 5,

“They were holding us up for sure. I think we can put the puck in a better place, but we’ve got to fight through their holdups. I thought at times we were fighting as hard as we could, we just couldn’t get through it, it’s kind of like trying to go through a barbed wire fence with a cotton sweater on.”

Alex Lyon and Jeremy Swayman have been very good in goal for the two teams. Lyon comes in 2-1 with a 1.18 goals against and .953 save percentage. Swayman is 2-3 with a 2.87 goals against and .910 save percentage.

Tage Thompson has two goals and three assists for five points in five games, but he doesn’t have a goal since Game 1.

Join “Schopp and the Bulldog” for the pregame starting at 6:00 when you’ll hear from Ruff, Norris, Samuelsson and Conor Timmins.