“All We Can Worry About Are Our Points” | Lindy Ruff On Six-Game Point Streak | Buffalo Sabres

I know Kik didn’t play in the third the other night other than that one shift. I mean, how are Kik and Zucker doing? Yeah, K’s uh just dealing with a with an issue that couldn’t play through. Uh Zucker is sick, so I think he’s doubtful for for tomorrow, too. And Kik could be doubtful, too. So, it didn’t Kiki’s issue didn’t happen in the game. It’s something he was dealing with. Yeah, kind of. I mean, it’s it’s something that he’s been kind of off with and he’s been dealing with it and uh um I tell you it’s not a it’s not a physical thing. It’s not like an injury. So, just trying to get him through it. Josh Stone is in the first month here’s shown I guess signs of going to a new level. What’s allowed him maybe to fit in here as in his career? Uh, you know, I think, uh, the opportunity has been there for him. Um, you know, he’s been on that first power play and helped make that work. So, I think that’s an opportunity to kind of accelerate your career and just compete and, uh, play around Netfront has been real good. Uh, so it’s, you know, kind of fit in with those guys he’s playing with. Time for first in the league right now. Kind of like your percentage. What’s allowed that group and that unit specifically to have success? Well, the the fact we’ve been trying to work on it since day one knowing it’s been something that we need to improve um has been some structure change to it. I thought um Timonss has been a a big acquisition for the the kill. U our our stand at the line I thought the other night was was excellent. We didn’t give him a lot of easy entries. for that. Samson I think has been so good when they’re coming down his side. Greenway back is is helped us out. Um we’ve had some pieces step in that have been good for us like Quinn’s been good for us when he had to step in. You know, we’re missing some guys we normally use. Um lot better getting the puck down the ice. Failed clears was an issue that we’ve cleaned up. So, it’s an area that, you know, we’ve worked hard on, identified areas we needed to improve. I think we’ve got we’ve got timely saves on the PK, which is really important, too. Um, so, you know, there’s there’s good uh there’s still areas that we we’re continuing to work on. Um, I think we backed off pressure sometimes when when we we can pressure, but overall, you know, obviously those three kills we had last night, the three late ones were from a structure and a a sense of desperation killing were excellent. How encouraging has that been to see that kind of growth so quickly with that group because it was was a struggle point lasting? Yeah. Um, like I said, part of the reason we went with the camp the way we did was to practice practice our special teams from day one. Uh, and I think we’re we’re seeing some of those dividends. Practicing special teams every day has been important for us. Uh, we’re just going to continue to do it. I think it’s identifying small areas to try to keep get better at. Uh, but from day one, it it’s kind of been a target for us. How much do you look at this game tomorrow? This team, those that top two lines they have really fast, strong. Yeah, you know, I think uh uh we understand what they can bring obviously and uh you know, we may be down a couple more players which is going to make it even more stressful for us. Um but we know what their strength is and we’ve got a game plan against them. You mentioned Kuik’s not an injury. Just to clarify, is that like a personal thing or an element? No, it’s not a person. It’s a health thing. Um, you don’t like when little kids get fluid in their ears and stuff like that. It’s kind of like that thing. Yeah. Know that all too well. They help you out a little bit. Michael Kessle rings. Uh, a week or so back he’s been kind of a little bit critical of his own game. um just what have you thought of him assimilate assimilating into the lineup here this past week or so? Yeah, you know, I think he’s he is actually still trying to feel comfortable with the with the way we play. Um and I don’t, you know, I don’t in any sense want to judge after, you know, 10 15 games. I think you got to get comfortable. He had a lot spent a lot of time out of the lineup. Uh he missed a lot of practices. that puts him puts him way behind a lot of reps where we’re trying to practice what we want to be good at. Um I don’t think he’s at the top of his game yet. I think there’s there’s a lot more to see. You notice a difference at all in how Each Roseanne is kind of approaching this opportunity just mentalitywise on that? Well, that there’s a really an air of confidence with him. He doesn’t, you know, seem like one of those nervous first year kids you’re going to put in the lineup and you’re going to give a try. I think he’s had a couple opportunities and knew that he could have been better. I think he’s using this one with the way he played in Rochester to really take advantage. We’re we’re putting him in a pretty big spot and, you know, so far he’s responded. It was a big goal for us. He had another opportunity inside that game to score. Uh, I think he’s really skating well. So, you know, I I think he knows the strength is his skating and and some of the finesse plays he can make along with uh his shot, which I think he proves that night can be can be a weapon for him. How weird is it to be 5-1 and three in your last nine and standings that these teams are five to 16 in the East are all within a point and you’re down at the bottom, but you’re one point. I think all we can worry about is getting our points. That’s really all we can we can’t, you know, we can’t look at other teams and say see what they’re doing. I mean, when we get opportunities to play those teams, we know they’re going to be big games. Um, I I think it tells you about the purity of the league. Um, and how tough it is from night to night. U when you got every team on our side that’s at least 500. Could you possibly have to make a recall? I know you have extra players, but I mean, yeah, we we’ve got we got some roster stuff we definitely have to talk about. um you know the next hour or so to make a decision on where we think I’m going to say I don’t think soccer is going to feel well enough to play and then we got one other guy that we don’t know so we’re going to have to take a hard look at what we can Thank you.

Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff spoke to the media after practice on on November 3, 2025. He gave updates on Jason Zucker and Jiri Kulich, and their statues for the next game against Utah. He also discussed the strong play of the penalty kill early this season and how they can continue to have success going forward. He also discussed the roster decisions the team will have to make including Isak Rosen and what he has seen from Michael Kesselring since returning from injury.

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