As Sabres struggle, Lindy Ruff turns to leaders ‘to be the difference-makers’

BUFFALO – How the Sabres lost their 11th consecutive game and the timing of it seemed like it would ignite change in what is quickly becoming another lost season.

Getting throttled 6-1 by the Canadiens on Tuesday and kicked into the Eastern Conference basement was embarrassing enough.

The Sabres fell behind 19 seconds into the game and got run out of the Bell Centre a day after Terry Pegula flew to Montreal to address the team and express his belief in his players, general manager Kevyn Adams and coach Lindy Ruff, according to reports.

Zero response to the owner’s presence and words of encouragement felt like a breaking point. Something had to be done before tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at KeyBank Center, right?

Well, so far, no moves – a trade, demotion or recall – have been made. Right now, Adams is moving forward with a group that has won just 11 of its 32 games this season and earned three points since Nov. 27. A seven-day roster freeze went into effect today.

For Sabres center Dylan Cozens, that’s fine. He wants the current group of players to stick together and find a solution.

“I believe in this group,” he said. “I think we all believe in this group. Know we just have to be better. But I do think that, looking at every guy in here, we have the team to win and we have the players to do it. But we’ve been saying that for a while now, it’s about time we go (expletive) do it.”

If the Sabres get on track again – remember, they briefly held a playoff spot before falling apart – their resurgence will likely be led by five or six veteran leaders Ruff looks upon to drive the team.

Ruff said he met with them again Thursday and told them, ‘It’s you guys that I’m handing the puck off to. You’re the guys that have to be the difference-makers.’”

Of course, Adams is known for doing his due diligence. He’s certainly examining options to improve his broken team.

“Kevyn and myself are in constant communication about trying to make this team better,” Ruff said. “I think everybody in this league is kind of in that same category, whether you’re a good team, whether you’re in the middle of the pack. You’re exploring ways that can make your team better, and that is just a constant communication that we go on from day to day.”

He added: “We got to keep working with what we got and we got to keep that communication going on.”

Having lost Jordan Greenway to a mid-body injury for a “significant amount of time,” according to Ruff – he said the winger will be undergoing surgery – the Sabres could be in the market for a penalty-killing forward.

The Sabres have a stiff test tonight in what in many ways will feel like their fourth consecutive “road” game.

Given the Sabres’ sorry state, you can bet local fans are unloading their tickets for the game. In their last visit March 30, Leafs supporters comprised about 90 percent of the crowd in KeyBank Center. It wouldn’t be shocking if they took over the building again.

“We’re in this position and we’ve just got to do everything that we can to win the game tomorrow,” said Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, who plans play tonight  after missing eight games battling back spasms. “We know what it’s going to be. We just have to win.”

The heavyweight Leafs just beat the Sabres 5-3 on Sunday afternoon in Toronto, erasing two early two-goal leads.

Unlike Tuesday, the Sabres started that game well, going up 1-0 just 1:03 in and 2-0 at 2:46.

To break out of their rut, Ruff said he wants the Sabres to start with “just one shift.”

“You go back to the Toronto game, you start with the first couple shifts, how well we came out,” he said. “You win your shift, you win a period. The Montreal game was the exact opposite. We came out of a tough break with the puck going off (a referee). It took us a good 15 minutes to recover from that start.

“And we’ve been typically been a lot better with starting. Like, the Washington game, good hockey team, I thought we started pretty well. Toronto game, couple goals in the first four minutes, started well. We got to be able to maintain that throughout a game.”

The Sabres lost 11 games during a dizzying 20-day stretch in which practice time was limited. Thursday’s session was their first since last Friday.

After tonight’s game, they play on the road Saturday against the Boston Bruins and Monday versus the New York Islanders before beginning a three-day Christmas break. They likely won’t have a full practice again until Dec. 28.

“But everybody deals with that, a lot of games in a short amount of time,” Ruff said. “I think practice is a good thing. I think you can reinforce how you want to play without practicing. You can do it on the dry-erase (board), you can do it with video, do some with individual line meetings. Just meet with the D in individual groups.”