It’s been a season of milestones for Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. In December, he coached his 1,800th NHL game and is now third all-time. On March 25, he became the second coach to reach 600 wins with a single franchise.
And when the Sabres visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, he could become the fifth coach in NHL history to reach 900 career wins.
But you won’t catch the Buffalo bench boss thinking too much about it.
“I couldn’t care less about 900. Seriously,” Ruff said. “There’s only one thing. We want to win hockey games. That’s all we want to do. … It’s not about me and how many games I’ve won. It’s about our team needs to consistently win hockey games, and that is really the whole focus.”
His team has been doing plenty of that of late. The Sabres (35-36-6, 76 points) are riding a five-game winning streak, have won eight of their past nine and are 11-4-0 since snapping a six-game slide on March 10. It’s a run that includes victories against the Winnipeg Jets, Washington Capitals, Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
On Tuesday, they dispatched the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-0.
“Not only patience for chances, I think it’s just staying the course, playing the right way the whole 60 minutes, I think is huge for our team,” winger Alex Tuch said. “Seen a lot of maturity, especially last couple games, and tonight I think just caps it all off.”
Tuch and Tage Thompson are each on pace to match career-best goal totals set in 2022-23. Tuch has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in a seven-game point streak and is two tallies shy of equaling his high of 36. Thompson has eight goals in a five-game goal streak and is three away from his high of 47.
Despite its hot stretch, Buffalo was officially eliminated from contention for the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday, extending their drought to an NHL-record 14 years.
The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, will look to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. They sit eight points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final wild card from the Eastern Conference after snapping a three-game skid Tuesday with a 5-2 victory against the Ottawa Senators.
Columbus (35-33-9, 79 points) holds a game in hand on the Canadiens but will need a regulation win to avoid elimination.
“We see the standings,” forward Adam Fantilli said. “We still have to give ourselves the best chance to get in. We put ourselves in a tough position, but our goal is to win out with the rest of the season.”
Winger Kirill Marchenko has enjoyed a stellar third season in the NHL, setting career highs across the board with 31 goals and 39 assists for 70 points. The 24-year-old leads the team in goals and is second to defenseman Zach Werenski in points.
“The biggest thing is he wants to be a difference maker,” center Sean Monahan said. “He wants the puck on his stick. He wants to score. He’s a guy that’s always trying to learn, change things up and improve his game. He’s just a lot of fun to play with.”
–Field Level Media
