Sabres HC Lindy Ruff on BRUTAL Calgary Loss & Sabres Effort | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Sabres HC Lindy Ruff on BRUTAL Calgary Loss & Sabres Effort | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Hey everybody, good morning. Thanks for joining us here on WTR. Happy Tuesday. Sabres lost last night in Calgary. They’re right back to it tonight to play the Edmonton Oilers. And joining us in the Western Hotline, Sabers head coach Lindy Ruff, who uh is up bright and early. We appreciate you getting up a little early for us, Lindy, on this uh road trip. Good morning. Morning, gentlemen. How we doing? Not too bad. So, Lindy, last night’s game, uh, post game, you had some of your your your high-profile players seemingly upset and frustrated and talk about the, uh, the the play of the game itself. And we also have a clip of Calgary broadcasters uh, their their view of the team was that the teams, if I can use their quotes, give a crap meter uh, was turned off. It seems like harsh uh, words regarding last night’s performance. I wonder how you felt about it. Well, I I thought there was there was a lot of lot there was a lot of good things we did in the game. Um, you know, if you look at some of the opportunities we created and some of the goals we scored, the the one goal were almost a minute at least a minute in the zone in the Calgary zone before we put it in. Um what hurt us again though inside the game? I mean we had a disallowed goal on on a really good rush play where Greenway was offside. Um we took a couple penalties that put us in a in a five on three situation. Um we had uh you know Dene was what I felt was was hooked down and in the four and four and gave up a goal. Probably the biggest thing that hurt us uh was was our puck play. Um I thought we kept fighting back in the game, you know, down down by a couple, we closed it within one. We down by a couple, we closed with within one. We got the late power play and scored. And then when you look at uh this the six on five, we turned a puck over in the neutral zone with couple minutes left and that was probably the play that didn’t give us a chance to get uh get at least a tie in the game. Lindy Ruff with us. Lindy, there the compete level on a night-to-ight basis. Are you feeling like you are getting that from this group the way you want it? You know, I I talk we talk a lot about the uh the compete uh from the top of the circles down because we haven’t scoring goals. Um I think there’s a little frustration in with the players with, you know, pucks not going in. We’ve talked about being harder around the blue paint. Uh I think we we got to a new level there last night where where finally we got rewarded for being around the net. Um, I think drawing that penalty near the end of the game where we’re in the paint, uh, was a big step. I thought we created some some great opportunities from from their turnover. So, we scored a couple nice goals. The Dalene goal was a great goal. Um, but there is another there is another level that when things aren’t going well for you, you got to get to. And I don’t don’t think we’re quite there yet. are the the team has now given up the most goals in the Eastern Conference this year, Lindy, and that was a stated goal of this team to be better at before the year. Is what you’re kind of referencing here another level a big part of that or are you also at a place where you’re wanting more from your goalenders? You know, I think it it’s a combination of of a lot of things. I think that we needed a big uh a big save off a couple of those tough plays we made. Um, you know, I think when you look at the the turnovers that uh that we had in the Winnipeg game, uh, that really hurt us, the the tuck play at the blue line where we give up a 2 and 0. Those are the type of plays that, you know, lead you as a team, especially when you’re on the road. and we had played a heck of a first period. Didn’t get rewarded for it. Missed we missed a lot of chances, but you can’t hand another team those type of opportunities in return for for playing well. Uh you look at uh another goal inside the Winnipeg game and if you want to go back to the Philly game, what got Philly started was us turning the puck over. For me, it’s the the puck management part has to be has to be better at at key times in the game and these last couple games, we failed that test. Sabers head coach Lindy Ruff on the Western Hotline after a loss to Calgary. They’re in Edmonton tonight. Lindy, you made comments about Noah Olland being sent down and um it’s it’s a direct result of of three goalies. Is that you know, you mentioned the numbers game. Is it really just three goalies allow or like I guess prohibit you from from having Olland who uh sounds like you had you had positive reviews of how he’s played yet he’s got to go down? Yeah. Uh you know I thought you know you’re looking at a young guy that’s getting his career started and I thought um the look we had at him last year he was at a level. I think the look when we brought him this year he’s at another level. He really got comfortable uh with the puck. I thought he started making a lot of good plays. We we didn’t convert on a lot of the plays. Uh some of the goals we converted on, but inside the game, I thought he was in on a lot of good plays offensively. I thought defensively uh his play inside the go inside our zone was uh was was good. I think that’s an improved area uh since he came up at the end of last year. Uh it looks like we’re going to have uh uh Zooker out tonight. So we’re going to have to bring somebody back. Uh but it is a little bit of the product of three goalies being here that he had to get sent down. With regard to that three goalie problem like whatever three goalie situation, is it something that you feel like if you’re having to send a player down when you you maybe shouldn’t, is it the kind of situation that you would maybe hope to find a solution to soon? You know, I I I think that it it’s been a it’s been a situation that I I’ve said it’s it’s not comfortable for the goalies and it’s not comfortable for for where we’re at. And and part of that was based on whether UPL was uh was going to make it through with the injury he had and we wanted to see how that went. um you can see other teams around the league at the same time have had have had the same situation. There’s probably four or five teams dealing with with three goalies. So now it’s a little bit more common. Um but at the same time, you know what we’re talking about where he takes a roster spot um for a player that you know could still be here. Uh you just you just have to work your way through that. Tage moving back and forth playing a little bit more at center when he is at center Lindy because you just look at the lineup on paper because Norris is obviously there and so is Mloud. Oselyn playing on the wing like is that something that you think he is capable of because he was playing more down the middle um when you were dealing with your injuries. Yeah, you know, I think you made a good point and that’s part of the Austin thing, too, is uh um when I move Cage back, I think Cage uh there there are times where he skates a lot better when when he’s in the middle of the ice. Uh but then all of a sudden you’ve got Norris and you’ve got Mloud and then you’ve got Krebs and Kak and at the center position that’s five already. So, somebody has to go over and even last night we played uh Kak at the wing, which you know, a lot of teams that’s pretty common. And uh the reason that uh Cage was over on the wing is, you know, we wanted to see if that there’d be a connection between him and Norris that would allow, you know, another centerman inside the game. So, it it’s always better to have a centerman that can move to the wing because there’s there’s wingers that can’t move into the middle. So, that’s a good problem to have. Follow up, by the way, very quick on the on the Zucker thing. So, if he doesn’t play tonight, is that a short-term thing or did something happen? Uh, something happened inside the game. He missed uh he missed some time in the second period and came back and played. But the initial uh the initial uh view by by our crew last night after the game is he will miss some time. Sabers head coach Lindy Ruff Edmonton tonight. Lindy. So, uh, best of luck and, uh, we’ll chat next week. Thanks, gentlemen.

Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff for his weekly appearance with the guys to break down the state of the team. The guys discuss the loss to the Flames and Ruff lays out his thoughts on the game. The guys also discuss the state of the team as a whole, questions about their effort, and more!

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