Those plays were the outliers in a quiet night offensively, the Sabres felt, and Ruff repeated an observation from previous losses this season.
“I thought we deferred to some cute plays tonight,” he said. “Even late in the third period, we were right in the slot, and we passed off some plays.
“But we handed them two goals at the same time. I mean, we gave them a 2-on-0, we gave them a penalty shot. They didn’t give us those opportunities.”
The 2-on-0 came early in the second period with the game tied 1-1. Forward Alex Tuch attempted a pass to Josh Doan at the middle of the offensive blue line, but Cole Koepke broke it up and Tanner Pearson sped off for a breakaway goal – the eventual game winner.
“It’s a whole different game if I don’t turn that puck over on the blue line,” Tuch said, “so I put a lot of this game on myself, and I need to be better. Just can’t allow things like that. Can’t have stuff like that creep into my game; I know better.”