After an up-and-down season, Lindy Ruff has been named the Sabres' head coach for the 25-26 season. There were doubts as to whether Ruff would be back this year, as the Sabres have had a short fuse when it comes to firing coaches since Ruff left the first time around.
In a radio interview, Kevyn Adams said he has confidence in Ruff moving forward as the coach. After a win streak, including winning seven games in a row on home ice, the Buffalo Sabres lost their fourth straight contest to the Toronto Maple Leafs at KeyBank Center.
Ruff, the first time around as the Sabres' head coach, had the desire to make sure the Buffalo Sabres became a successful team. The Sabres sit 26th in the NHL standings and could fall as far as 28th depending on what happens in the final few days of the season. Ruff coached a lot better than people thought in his first season, but one long losing streak hindered everything.
Keeping his team focused
Ruff knows the Sabres' historic 13-game losing streak tanked their season. After starting right at .500 to begin the year, the Sabres began to nose dive. This streak sent them right to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the Sabres looked out of it just 30 games in.
To a younger team, however, it’s more difficult to break out of these losing streaks than to a veteran team like the Oilers or Avalanche. Let’s not forget that 20 games into the season, both of those teams sat under .500, and now they are playoff teams.
The “one game at a time” mentality needs to be implemented if the Sabres want to stay out of these long losing streaks. Not to mention, they also had a seven-game losing streak from the end of February through early March. It seems that all of their losses are coming at once, and not spread out like most teams.
These streaks derail confidence, and it took the Sabres a long time to find it after the fact. With some changes to their special teams and a better game plan for road games, I think Ruff has these guys trending in the right direction.
Ruff has done it before, and his goal is to do it again as he wants to make the Sabres contenders. As he brings back a top 10 offense and chases win No. 900, look for Ruff to turn things around for the Sabres next season.