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Tom Banks
December 8, 2025  (7:37 PM)

Lindy Ruff, Head Coach of the Buffalo Sabres.

Photo credit: The Hockey Writers

The Buffalo Sabres sit in last place in the Eastern Conference standings, and after their latest poor performance, they’ve been called out by Lindy Ruff.

Despite some promising performances this season, the Buffalo Sabres have failed once more to find consistency in 2025/26, as they currently sit in last place in the Eastern Conference.

Those struggles were on full display on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets, as they fell 4-1, falling to 11-13-4 as their goal of finally making it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs get fainter and fainter.

Lindy Ruff calls out the Buffalo Sabres for their struggles

In that matchup, the Sabres struggled to win pucks in the hard areas, and while they’ve got some intriguing young talents leading the way, it’s just not enough if they can’t do those small things.

That was the easy thing for Ruff to call out after their performance, and with four losses in their past six games, their struggles have been on full display in recent weeks.

You look at the couple situations where the puck was loose in their crease in Winnipeg, I didn’t think our desperation was good enough.

Unlike previous years in Buffalo, there’s been many more positives than their has been negatives, but still, doing the small things right on a consistent basis hasn’t been something they’ve been able to do with their young, inexperienced team.

Ultimately, this is a team that’s got talent and potential, but they’re yet to figure out how to do the small things and fight hard enough on a consistent basis, and until that happens, this is a team that won’t be able to find their way back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Previously on House Of Hockey

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