Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – In a season filled with challenging losses and difficult stretches of hockey, many teams may start to crumble and fall apart because of the toxicity that losing can bring to a locker room.
Despite some struggles over the course of the 2024-25 season, the Buffalo Sabres seem to be sticking together as they look to close out the regular season on a high note with 16 games left and another campaign without a playoff appearance.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff has liked the way his team has rallied behind one another in recent games to close out tight hockey games and secure wins in the standings.
“When you talk about being in tight hockey games, instead of losing games, we’re finding ways to win games,” said Ruff on Tuesday during his regular appearance with the “Jeremy and Joe Show” on WGR. “Last night’s game, I thought their goalie made a couple great saves in the third period, and we stayed around and played a real smart game, managed the puck really well. I think in those areas we are coming together, where we’re trying to stay strong defensively first, and then look for opportunity to win a hockey game.”
One of the key areas of struggle this season for the Sabres has been with their power play and penalty kill, but as of late, both units have seen minor improvements that have contributed to team success in those close games.
“If you go back to earlier in the year, there were a lot of games where we had a power play that could have made a difference. Could have scored a goal that either would have tied the game or won the game for us. The disappointing part was we didn’t get the job done,” Ruff said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. “I think there were a lot of cases early on, even to where we gave up that shorthanded goal at an inopportune time that hurt us even worse than not scoring. It’s something we work on every day. The units have been switching, we’ve changed our mentality a little bit with our penalty killing. We’ve worked on that now a lot more. I think the power play has been a work in progress all year, and maybe we’re getting some dividends now. It’s an area that every team probably relies on to win a lot of hockey games.”
This past offseason saw the Sabres make a trade to acquire center Ryan McLeod from the Edmonton Oilers. In his first season in Buffalo, McLeod has made himself into a very dependable piece in the lineup, playing important roles in each phase of the game.
While Ruff believes it has been a bit of an up-and-down year for the 25-year-old, he is starting to see McLeod come into form in the second half of the season.
“He’s a guy that can skate forever,” Ruff said. “I had his brother [Michael] in New Jersey, he was a great skater. They’re similar when it comes to that. I think he’s really wrapped his arms around this opportunity to play more and get involved more, and his play has been real good for us. I actually didn’t even look at his minutes. I knew he was fairly high, but when you’re first off the bench killing penalties, and then you’re elevated to that first power play unit, those guys are typically 20-plus minutes a game. And because he skates so well, he handles those minutes pretty well.”
The Sabres look to remain hot on Thursday when they continue their four-game road trip against the Utah Hockey Club at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. This will be Buffalo’s first trip to Utah ever after the Hockey Club moved from Arizona this past summer.
Puck drop is slated for 9 p.m., with pregame starting at 8 p.m. with Brian Koziol on the radio home of the Sabres – WGR Sports Radio 550.
