“We Have To Be Ready Early” | Lindy Ruff Ahead Of Season Opener | Buffalo Sabres

“We Have To Be Ready Early” | Lindy Ruff Ahead Of Season Opener | Buffalo Sabres

getting into it and getting some of your players back. In reality, we haven’t really seen penalty kill yet, have we? No. Um, no. You know, I think in and still even with the, you know, castle ring being out, we’re still probably not seeing what could be our top killers, but uh, everybody deals with, you know, guys being out. And, um, you know, I know it has to be better even with the guys we use. I thought a couple structural mistakes even the last game that hurt us. So, we’ve worked hard on it and we’re going to continue to work hard on it. You going to stick with what we saw yesterday, Bryson over Johnson? Yeah, in in all likelihood, yeah, that’s what we’re we’re looking at. Both of them had a good camp. Uh that doesn’t mean that um you know RJ might not go may go in in Boston. I I think he’s deserved with the way he’s played. Um so we just evaluate the lineup, but we know that he can step in and help us and the penalty kill of course he can do it very well. Would you with all the minutes he plays, would you prefer that he doesn’t or do you just say, “Hey, he’s good at it.” Well, you know, I think the guy that takes his ice in the penalty killing is usually Samson. you know that I would prefer, you know, maybe he’s like the last 30 seconds. Um, but it’s an area he’s getting more like more comfortable with. Uh, I I think Dolls is the type of guy want to play in any situation. So, you give him power play time, penalty killing time, he’s pretty happy. I know it’s been two days, but what have you noticed about Colton Ellis? Just his personality or the way he is on the ice. Highly competitive, great personality. He seems like just a an awesome guy. Um, you know, I think u you look at the first practice, a couple of saves he made. I think the uh um you know, guys kind of shook their head a couple times. Uh but uh he’s the type of guy that wants to hang around, take shots after practice. Like he just wants to he wants to keep keep working and keep getting better. And I you know, you look at his numbers, his numbers have been good. So, um, he will get his chance to play here. Want to get off obviously to a good start any night, but it’s the first game and they’ve already played a game and they didn’t play very well. So, how interesting is the first few minutes of this one going to be? Yeah, I you know, I think we’re going to see a different team. I think they’re they probably pretty disappointed, although you know, pretty tight game uh when it came down to it. Uh so we know that uh we we we have to be ready to skate and we have to be ready to go north in a hurry. And I think that you know get inside the offensive zone. We got to get be ready to get dirty, get guys around the net front. Uh you know I think previous games against them not I mean things have changed but we we have to get people around the net and make it tough on their goalender too. What do you think might be different with Mike behind the bench now? You know, I think you always when you go from one place, you carry over what what you believe in. Um, so I I think some of their Dzone um is is probably changed. Maybe a little bit of their neutral zone has changed. Uh so you look at that and Mike was very successful with the way his team’s played and I’m pretty sure he brings that with him. comes to Panera, are you more interested in getting a defensive pair out against him or a line out against No, mainly a pair. You know, I think the that those top lines, you like to get your best pair. Um, and you know, you know that you’ve got guys that can skate with them, guys that uh are really aware of them. uh you know philosophy on that is is make sure that uh that deep pair you got out there is your best pair when it comes to defending against top guys. Owen Power and they for tonight. Um not really going to comment on the lineup. Um I think you got to see yesterday what was and we’ll make a make a decision on all players. I’m not going to help the Rangers out for tonight. when you think about, you know, throughout the season when to insert Mason Gearson, like how’s that gonna how’s that going to work for you? Like what what types of things are you going to be thinking about for what nights might be good for him? Um, you know, I think I you look at your lineup as a whole and and what do you need that night? It really it’s just going to come down come down to that. I I think he’s had a good camp. I think he’s had a good playing camp. Um he’s skated well. He’s he’s been u you know disciplined in his play structure-wise. I think he’s played really really well and and I think we know the other side of what what he can offer. So that’s exactly what I’ll look at. Thanks.

Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff spoke to the media the morning of the first game of the season on October 9, 2025. Ruff gave an update on where players are with injuries and previews what the potential lineup might look like against the New York Rangers. He also discussed what he’s expecting out of the team’s penalty kill and power play tonight and how the team can get off to a fast start.

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