Buffalo's 5-3 victory over the Canucks is their 11th in the last dozen games
The Buffalo Sabres appeared to be in good shape to rebound from the loss that ended their 10-game winning streak in Columbus on Saturday, leading the last-place Vancouver Canucks 4-1 midway through the third period, but two goals in 39 seconds narrowed the lead to just one goal and forced head coach Lindy Ruff to call a timeout to blunt the Canucks momentum.
The Sabres successfully calmed the waters and responded with a empty netter to ice away their 11th win in the last 12 games, 5-3 over Vancouer at KeyBank Center on Tuesday night.
Ruff spoke to the media after the game:
On the effort, the battles along the boards, and the penalty killing?
Overall, there was good stuff there, I thought some lateral plays on entries that didn't like, when we turn the pucks over, but for the most part, coming off a long road trip, getting a practice in, I thought we played pretty well.
Were you pleased with the club being comfortable when the game got close late in the third?
Yeah, we just talked about it. All I said was we've been in this position a lot of times, and we're going to be in it a lot more times. Just play our game. The system is locked in. Be ready for it.....I thought the execution after that was pretty good. (Vancouver) were putting some heat on.
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Were you happy for Zach Metsa being able to score his first NHL goal for the game-winner?
Anytime a guy gets his first goal, you can see his excitement. You play the game, you want to get on the board at some point, and it turns out to be a huge goal. (It was a) pretty good play, where he jumped through and and I think he just got inside (Evander) Kane for the goal and great shot.....He's defending well, I think his numbers speak for themselves
How pleased are you with where the club is through 41 games?
There's been a ton of injuries. When we walk in the dressing after the game, there's still six or seven guys standing there. We've had to kind of meander our way through starting the year, you're looking at Kulich being our #1 centerman, Norris, and both those guys being out for a long period of time. I think we've done a good job of kind of balancing that out and having guys fill in and play the game and help us win hockey games. We got ourselves on a good run. I thought the stretch were we lost a few in overtime, we played pretty well where we didn't capitalize on but just a one-game mentality, we fought ourselves into a good place at 48 points in 41 games. Usually 96 points, if you do that over the next 41 we'll get you in the playoffs.
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