BUFFALO – As his 900th NHL win approached, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff refused to give it any thought, saying he could care less.
The Sabres brought the franchise legend back this season to help them earn that elusive playoff berth. Instead, their NHL-record drought reached 14 years.
Clearly, the Sabres’ struggles throughout a trying campaign – most notably, their season-killing 13-game winless skid – gnaw at Ruff. He knows he failed to deliver.
So not surprisingly, after earning his 900th victory in Thursday’s season finale, a 5-4 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers in KeyBank Center, he had little to say about the milestone.
“It’s a number, for sure,” he said after becoming the fifth coach in NHL history to reach the number. “Just means I’ve coached a lot of hockey games, had a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches, from management down, to put a lot of trust in me.
“Isn’t about me, it’s about the teams I’ve had and the people around me.”
Sabres winger Alex Tuch, who blocked his 112th shot, an NHL record for a forward, believes the mark means something to Ruff.
“That’s no small feat there,” he said.
Ruff’s current team showcased notable improvement down the stretch. While Thursday’s win over the hapless Flyers before a crowd of 16,663 fans ended a four-game winless skid (0-3-1), they ended the season on a 12-7-1 run.
They’ve recently been generating some optimism, a difficult task in these parts.
Still, they fell well short of their goal, and when Ruff addresses his team today, he said he plans to tell his players “we didn’t get where we wanted to go.”
“That’s the statement,” he said. “We’re not where we wanted to be. That stretch of games that we went through (in late November and December) pretty well killed us for the year. I take full responsibility for where we’re at and how long it took us to get out of there. I don’t offer up any excuses.”
Ruff can also extenuate some positives. The Sabres developed more an identity over the last five weeks or so.
On Thursday morning, Ruff explained they began managing the puck well and performing better away from it.
“Then quick strike and creating offense with special teams and just making that next play, being confident to have the puck and make that next play,” he said.
The Sabres scored 265 goals this season, 21 more than a year ago.
“Until just recently, the goals were going in, we were creating a lot, we were playing well away from the puck, and … (the) power play was helping us win a lot of games, penalty killing on most nights was giving us a solid effort,” he said.
Tuch, who opened the scoring with his 36th goal, tying his career high, said the Sabres recently enjoyed “more full-team efforts.”
“I think we had more buy-in, playing the right way,” he said. “I think guys say that if you weren’t playing the right way, you weren’t going to play as much, and you weren’t going to get as good opportunities. So guys really picked it up. The effort was a lot better.
“We gave it a good push, obviously. We’re not where we wanted to be, but I thought it was a good end to the season.”
Ruff believes the Sabres’ strong finish can carry over into next season.
“That’s the whole purpose of continuing to try to play the right way,” he said prior to the game.
Thursday’s game was hardly well-played. Ruff said he calls it “a union game.”
“There’s really not much hitting,” he said. “Pucks are going everywhere. You saw the number of breakaways – I think (Peyton) Krebs had four breakaways in the game. They’re not easy games to play or to have players motivated.”
Tuch and Krebs (short-handed) put the Sabres up 2-0 in the first period. After goals by wingers Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka put them up 4-1 in the second period, the Flyers narrowed it to 4-3 in the third period.
After center Ryan McLeod’s empty-netter, his 20th goal, put Sabres up 5-3, the Flyers got within one again late.
Sabres goalie James Reimer, who made 21 saves, was sporting marks on his neck following the game after Philadelphia center Ryan Poehling’s skate grazed him when he charged to the net. One of Philadelphia’s trainers quickly ran on the ice to assist Reimer, who stayed in the game.
“I’ve had a bunch of close calls not with my neck, guys stepping on your hands and stuff like that,” Reimer said. “It’s kind of like you’re in the moment, you don’t really know what’s going on. … I felt something on my neck and, obviously ,your instincts take over and you’re like, ‘Oh boy, what happened,’ and with the adrenaline you don’t really know, you can’t really feel pain.
“You’re a little freaked out in the moment, but there wasn’t really any blood so it was all right.”
