“There Was A Different Energy” | Lindy Ruff On Practice Ahead Of Home Opener | Buffalo Sabres

“There Was A Different Energy” | Lindy Ruff On Practice Ahead Of Home Opener | Buffalo Sabres

Yeah, he got through well. Um, thought he looked good, feels good. Uh, should be definitely a possibility for Thursday. Um, looked good, too. Full practice. Um, you know, see how he gets feels tomorrow, but I I felt no issues with him. A set back? No, no set back. Uh, he’s feeling good. just sort of following protocol on on how hard we want to skate them. You’re probably looking at UPPL and Klering being out for a while and the rest of them all possible third. Yeah. Uh Greenway is not a he’ll be out. Yeah. But he’s progressing too. So I mean Power and Greenway skated this morning. How much was the antie kind of raised today? Kind of almost the first regular season practice and just the intensity level and all what you’re trying to accomplish out there. Yeah, I thought, you know, there was a there was a different buzz. There was a different energy. I thought um guys see the they see the light at the end of the tunnel that you know Thursday things get real and you know we got to stay sharp and we got to practice. to be ready to play. In terms of Lion and Gorg, what have you seen that you’ve liked ahead of the the home opener on Thursday? Um, you know, again, just still evaluating. Um, you know, they both they uh both I thought have made great saves at times. It’s probably both of them would like, you know, a couple couple different goals back at times. So really just evaluating goes, he seems energized by his opportunity. Have you seen that from him that like what he has here? I mean, he has really lifted him if that makes sense, I guess. Um, but I know he’s he’s got, you know, he’s got excitement about, you know, a new beginning. He likes the group. um he thinks that uh the team is is right there and he likes the opportunity that he’s going to get that’s in front of him. His personality he’s very he’s affable. He seems very positive. What have you noticed about that? Yeah, you he’s just a good guy to be around. You know, he uh a guy that doesn’t take any time off in practice, you know, really feels that whatever drill he’s doing, that drill is going to make him better. Uh, so he works at it. Um, you know, whether we’re doing, you know, line rush coverage or Dzone, you can see that, you know, he’s kind of locked in. Um, he’s got a smile on his face. He’s, you know, first thing in the morning, he’s he’s one of those guys that, uh, he’s infectious. Situation for Alex Lion where this is an opportunity. I mean, if he goes in the net, plays well for whatever however many weeks this is, I mean, it could be his opportunity, couldn’t it? For sure. You know, I think he would look at it that it’s probably his first really big opportunity. Um, you know, we’ve we’ve given him a pretty good look in the in the preseason and uh like I said, there’s a lot to like about his game. Uh there’s also, you know, probably a couple goals here or there that he’d want back as a goalender. You probably won’t know for sure, I guess, the type of culture you have until you hit adversity in the season, but how do you feel about the the foundation you’ve laid so far? You know, I think we’re going to face a little adversity right off the bat, you know, with the the number of guys that uh we’ve had out. Even the last game, I I thought for 45 minutes probably played one of our our best games. let that last 15 minutes kind of slip away from us. Uh we’re going to deal with, you know, maybe a couple defenseman being out. Um we’re going to deal with a goalender being out. So I think we’re going to hit a little adversity. I think, you know, you develop who you’re going to be. You just can’t start camp and say we’re going to be this. Uh so we we’ve got a chance to prove what we can be by dealing with a little adversity right off the start. when you hit those spots, what do you see guys like Krebs and Danforth? Uh kind of those, you know, utility guys. You’ve called Krebs a Swiss Army knife of sorts. Um what do you expect from from those guys? Maybe not your your top point getters, but those guys who are going to grind and do the things, you know, I think there’s if you look at Danforth, he’s a guy that has has had success offensively, you know, the finish league, the KHL. Um he does everything right. like he was. We’ve been using him important faceoffs, penalty killing, power play. I think he again is a guy that we can use in a lot of different places. If somebody isn’t going real well, you can easily move him up the lineup and you almost know from shift to shift what you’re going to get. Uh he’s he’s a well-trained athlete. He’s strong. There’s not many guys stronger in the puck than he is. Uh and I think he’s a guy that’s going to fit in really well. What did Josh Norris do to be so productive this season? You know, preseason he was winning faceoffs, scoring goals, setting up plays, playing well defensively. What did he do? He got healthy is is number one. You know, he wasn’t healthy when we got him last year. And he had a heck of a summer training wise. And you know, I think if you watch uh the way he skates right now, he’s been able to pull away from people. The one goal, you know, down his knees, back up. Um, I think he’s the player that we expected we were going to get. Faceoffs will be a big deal. Uh, I think he’s a a guy we can use in every situation. And, uh, he’s admittedly said it’s the first full summer he’s had to train. What kind of mindset did he bring into training camp? The mindset that he was going to be our best centerman. He’s going to be one of our fittest guys and be our best centerman. Out of the weekend, what you hope to get out of the weekend? And is it something that can be long term for the guys. We did uh I thought we had we we had a a great day together. Uh we had a couple sessions uh that we used uh for what we called culture building and um we had a gentleman that that ran it and orchestrated it for us that I I thought was was real good. The feedback from the players was good. Um, so you know, I think there I’ I’ve did it a couple times in Jersey where we went away just before the season and you know, you get to spend some time just, you know, kind of away from the rink or where you usually meet and in a more casual atmosphere, but at the same time, you know, put in three or four hours of what we thought was going to be good for our club. Thank you.

Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff spoke to the media after practice on October 6, 2025. Ruff gave injury updates on Mattias Samuelsson, Zach Benson, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Jordan Greenway and Owen Power. He also talked about the play of Josh Doan in his first camp in Buffalo and what he brings to the team. Ruff also gave an update on the team’s mindset going into the season-opener on Thursday night.

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