Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Despite suffering a loss to the defending Stanley Cup champions on Monday night at KeyBank Center, the Buffalo Sabres have been playing some of the best hockey in the National Hockey League recently with 13 wins over their last 15 games.
As of Tuesday morning, the Sabres remain in a playoff with 52 points and a points percentage of .591. That speaks volumes given where Buffalo was in the standings just over a month ago when the team started its 10-game winning streak.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff felt Monday's game was a tight contest between both teams in Buffalo, but chances were missed late.
"I thought both teams did a real good job of gapping up and not giving up much ice, and packed it in pretty tight down low. I thought we didn't do a real good job of getting shots through from above the top of the circle. We hit a lot of sticks, they blocked some shots," said Ruff during his weekly appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "When a team makes a mistake late, like they did, where we had the [Tage] Thompson chance with the [Josh] Doan rebound, that's one we have to take advantage of. We missed, and it could have been the goal that, at least, got us a point in the game."
The Sabres' power play was a hot topic after the game on Monday. Over their last 10 games, despite scoring plenty while at even strength, Buffalo has only scored one goal on 21 opportunities with the man advantage.
Ruff feels the Sabres are having a rougher go of things than in previous games on the power play.
"The power play had a little bit of a rough go last night. I thought the game before looked a lot better. We didn't handle their pressure really well. I thought we threw some pucks away. We just had to show a little bit more composure," said Ruff with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "When you throw a puck away, you're losing 20 seconds. I think our puck management has been better on it, but it is an area that if you look at the last night, they score power play goal. Maybe that's the difference in the game. If we would have got one, that game still could have been tied at the end."
Buffalo's ongoing homestand continues this week with three more games on the schedule, starting with the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, followed by a matchup with the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Thursday will be a bit of a special night in Western New York, as the team is set to host a reunion night for the 2005-06 team, as many Sabres alumni from that team will be in Buffalo for the game. Having coached these players coming back, Ruff is very much looking forward to that evening.
"A lot of guys I haven't seen in a long time," Ruff acknowledged. "I've seen the list, and I've heard even Maxim Afinogenov is coming back from Russia. So are some of the guys that you know over here in North America. Some of the Europeans that you haven't seen in a long time would be great to see. A lot of great memories from that team, and it'll be great to have that group back in the building."
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