BUFFALO – With the Sabres clinging to a 1-0 in Wednesday’s third period, forward Ryan McLeod lost a defensive-zone faceoff and allowed his man, center Shane Pinto, to get free in front of goalie Colten Ellis.
Pinto quickly swept in a rebound, the first of two late goals the Ottawa Senators scored in their 2-1 victory.
McLeod has struggled all season, mustering just one goal and three points while compiling a team-worst minus-7 rating in 15 games.
Letting Pinto get open at a critical juncture might’ve been the final straw for Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who will be benching McLeod for tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at KeyBank Center.
It marks the first time McLeod, 27, will be a healthy scratch since joining the Sabres in 2024-25.
Shane Pinto, 1-1
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“He’s taken full responsibility for it and understands,” Ruff said this morning of McLeod’s defensive gaffe. “It’s not about not playing tonight; it’s about what the next game’s gonna look like, because, really, that is how I kind of judge it. …
“There’s a lot more in the game than just that faceoff. It’s not just about the faceoff.”
With McLeod out, winger Jiri Kulich, who has missed the last five games with a concussion, is expected to make his first appearance since Oct. 21. The Czech skated at left wing this morning alongside center Josh Norris and Jason Zucker.
The speedy McLeod, who’s in the second season of a four-year, $20 million contract, could’ve been scratched much sooner.
Ruff recently demoted him to the fourth line, where he also played when he began struggling in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year.
“He knows he needs to be better,” Ruff said. “It’s about what you’re creating out there and what you’re giving up. The numbers say that we’re not creating enough, we’re not producing enough. And the other side of it is we’re giving up too much. A moment like this is teaching moments, a learning moment. We got to be better.”
So Ruff has been sitting down with McLeod and reviewing recent games.
“You have meetings on the road trip, discussed where parts of his game, from one-on-one 50-50 battles, has to be better,” Ruff said. “Better on the battles will lead to more opportunities. Better on battles maybe lead some more offensive zone time.”
After leaving the ice this morning long after most of his teammates, McLeod acknowledged he has more to offer.
“It’s not been good, not been a high enough standard for where I want to be,” he said of his play. “I want to come into the season and raise my little level from last year.”
McLeod scored 14 times last season, a six-goal drop from the previous year, but set career highs by recording 40 goals and 54 points in 81 games. He also registered a career-best plus-25 rating.
Right now, he said he want to take deep breath and get back to basics.
“Kind of stop gripping the stick so tight,” McLeod said. “They kind of gave me some tips and kind of what they want to see in there, and just kind of back to basics. Kind of regain my confidence and go from there.”
Clearly, frustration has crept into McLeod’s game. He hasn’t generated a plus rating in a game all season. He has a nine-game goal drought and just two points in his last 14 outings.
His ice time has dropped from 17 minutes, 37 seconds per game last season to 14 minutes, 56 seconds this year.
“Everyone has a certain level and standard that they want to abide to, and I don’t think I played to that level, and, yeah, so it’s frustrating,” he said. “I’m just gonna take a little mental reset here and find my game.”
Shooting the puck would likely help McLeod, who possesses a pass-first mentality. He has registered just 13 shots all season, including zero in his last two games.
He knows he must develop an attacking mindset.
“Once it stops going in for you, it kind of frustrates you,” he said. “But I think you just got to get back and watch some clips, and just kind of get back into some spots where I can shoot some more pucks.”
Meanwhile, defenseman Conor Timmins, who hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury late in the preseason finale, will replace Louis Crevier tonight.
Timmins, 28, established himself as one of the Sabres’ top penalty killers last season.
“He was one of our better guys with his reads and his clears,” Ruff said.
Ruff said he thinks “the world” of Crevier, who earned a four-year, $16 million contract extension before he played a game for the Sabres.
Crevier, 25, has struggled a bit adapting to a new team and system,.
“We wanted get (Timmins a game,” Ruff said. “(Crevier is) on the right track. He’s a very coachable kid. He works extremely hard. There’s a lot of great aspects to him. We’re in a position now where this might just be a one-game (absence), and he’s right back in.”
Ruff said the Sabres might begin rotating seven defensemen “where one or two guys will take their turn being out.”
In other lineup news, Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is expected to start tonight.