Before the Boston Bruins began their first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins last month, head coach Marco Sturm dropped a comment about being the more physical team. It was an odd comment, but after watching how the series played out, it was likely to take some of the pressure off of his team.
A big underdog, the Bruins were not able to do what they did during the regular season, grind out four wins over the best-of-seven series against Buffalo. The Sabres’ talent was much better than Boston’s in what turned into a six-game series that Buffalo clinched last Friday night at the TD Garden with a 4-1 win in Game 6.
The comment from Sturm was heard in Western New York, and the Sabres downplayed it at the time and during the series. Now that the series has been over for five days, Buffalo is about to begin their second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at the KeyBank Center. During his press conference on Wednesday, head coach Lindy Ruff took a subtle shot at Sturm.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff takes subtle shot at Bruins coach Marco Sturm
When meeting with the media, Ruff took a shot when discussing the physicality going into the series against Montreal.
“I have to be careful about answering questions about bigger, stronger teams,” said Ruff.
No, Lindy, actually you don’t. The fact that he said that tells us that the comment from Sturm is living rent-free in the veteran coach’s head. That can’t be good. That was in the last round. The Sabres and Ruff should be moving on to the Canadiens, not what Sturm said three weeks ago.
Buffalo will face a different team in Montreal than they did in Boston, a much more skilled team that will match the Sabres’ talent-for-talent. Whoever the more physical team ends up being remains to be seen. However, before facing Montreal, Ruff couldn’t resist living in the past.
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