Storylines
1. Raising the standard
Ruff acknowledged the improvements in the Sabres’ loss to Detroit on Saturday versus their previous two losses. They cleaned up their defensive play, limited odd-man rushes against, and held the Red Wings without a goal at even strength as a result. Detroit won solely on the strength of two power-play goals from Dylan Larkin.
All that being said, Ruff echoed Power in saying the team cannot rest on those positives without a winning result.
“Not accepting that’s good enough,” Ruff said. “Not accepting that we’ve done a lot of good things. “We got to win games, that’s the key. Raise the standard, raise the expectation. I’m not going to stand here and talk about (it). We did good things, but finish the good things, finish off those great opportunities, put it in the back of the net. That’s what we’re here for."
Part of the focus is on eliminating momentary lapses that prove costly in otherwise strong performances, be it untimely penalties or missed coverages on rushes against.
“I think it goes pretty well and then we have a drop with one huge mistake,” Power said. “I think we’ve just got to be able to really kind of dial it in for the whole game.”
2. Special teams
The Sabres had scored a power-play goal in three straight games prior to an 0-for-2 night in the loss to the Red Wings. They went back to work on Monday with an emphasis on shot mentality.
“You look around the league, all the best power plays in the league shoot the puck a lot,” Power said. “I think that’s something we’ve talked about and when we do it, we’re a lot better and harder to stop.”
Ruff homed in on taking advantage of clearing opportunities on the penalty kill after allowing two power-play goals to the Red Wings.
“Enough of failed clears,” Ruff said. “You can have a good kill and you fail on the clear, it’s in the back of your net. Structure-wise, we’ve been limiting pretty good, but we’ll make that big mistake that costs us dearly. I think any time you have a failed clear it just seems like it’s going to bite you. The opposition keeps it alive, you ended up being a little tired in the zone, or you’re anticipating the puck going down the ice and you’re out of position for a couple seconds.”
3. Scouting the Senators
Ottawa is coming off a 3-0 victory over Seattle on Saturday. Anton Forsberg made 22 saves for the shutout.
The Senators enter Tuesday as the league’s seventh-most productive scoring team with an average of 3.82 goals per game. Their power play ranks third in the NHL at 33.3 percent, even after going a combined 0-for-8 in their last two games.
Brady Tkachuk leads Ottawa with seven goals while fourth-line center Adam Gaudette has scored six in the past five games – already halfway to his previous career high for an entire season. Tim Stutzle leads the team and is tied for 12th in the league with 16 points (6+10).
