Sabres Staying Focused On Their Next Opponent And Not The Standings

There have been only a few blemishes for the Buffalo Sabres recently, and in an extremely tight and competitive race in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres will have to bounce back from the 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first of back-to-back games at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.  

The Sabres find themselves outside of the top-eight in the conference, in spite of going 13-2 in the last 15 games, but could move back into a wildcard spot with a win over the Flyers, who they are tied in the standing with at 52 points. 

Buffalo held an optional skate at KeyBank Center on Wednesday, and head coach Lindy Ruff spoke to the media to provide an update on the roster: 

The club sent down defenseman Zac Jones, how does that reflect on the injury status of Michael Kesselring?

(Kesselring) is available, but won't play. Rochester is playing tonight. In an emergency basis, Kesselring could play, and we'll evaluate him for tomorrow.

Is there an update on Josh Dunne?

He's gonna be off for a period of time. Right now the indications are maybe four-to-six weeks. (Ruff indicated on Tuesday that the injury was mid-body, and said on Wednesday that he will not require surgery). 

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What are you expecting in your third matchup with the Flyers?

They've got some great speed up front. We've had two hard games against them. They got us in their building, we got them in ours. (We) just anticipate, in Eastern Conference games, teams that you're right there with, every game is an important game. It's just going to come down to, compete and execution, and try to make them pay for their mistakes. But make sure we're taking care of the puck at the same time.

Have you instructed the players to not concentrate on the standings?

We haven't talked about the standings. We just talked about the importance of one game. I think we've been pretty good at trying to just stay in the moment,  rebounding after the previous game, where you're right there in that game, to win it, or at least get points out of it. (You) spend more time on that, getting ready for this game than you do on the overall standings.

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