BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lindy Ruff is mixing things up on the power play.
After scoring twice in Game 1 against the Canadiens, the Sabres’ power play went cold again during a 5-1 loss in Game 2. Finding a rhythm with the man advantage has been a season-long issue for Buffalo. On Saturday at practice, Ruff went with two different looks with his power-play units.
On the top unit were Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Zach Benson, Josh Doan and Jack Quinn.
On the second unit, the Sabres had Bowen Byram, Alex Tuch, Jason Zucker, Josh Norris and Ryan McLeod.
“We’re going to shake it up,” Ruff said after practice. “We feel it’s the right time for it.”
The Sabres have just one goal from their top power-play unit during the postseason. Both Game 1 power-play goals came from the second unit. McLeod scored on a feed from Benson, and Byram got a goal later in the game. Benson and Doan were arguably Buffalo’s two best players in Game 2. Ruff said Benson’s ability to make plays in small areas is a reason why he’s getting a look with the top unit. And Quinn is going to be on the flank.
“Why not?” Ruff said.
Nobody is going to argue with Buffalo changing things on the power play. In Game 2, neither team scored on the power play, but the Canadiens were building momentum with their looks while the Sabres were stuck in the mud. Their entries have been a major issue, and Benson should help with that. He’s skilled at slipping into the zone and relieving pressure.
If nothing else, having Doan and Benson should make the top unit better at winning puck battles and creating chaos in front of the net. That group is in need of a mentality change, and these changes should accomplish that.
Here are some other news and notes heading into Game 3:
1. Sam Carrick is available to play in Game 3. Tyson Kozak did not practice with the Sabres on Saturday because he was “getting some work done,” according to Ruff. Carrick sliding into Kozak’s spot as the center on the fourth line is the logical lineup change the Sabres can make. Carrick has won 57 percent of his faceoffs since joining the Sabres, which is a key stat for a team that is dead last in faceoff percentage in the playoffs after finishing 32nd in that category during the regular season. Carrick hasn’t played since March 31 with an arm injury, but he’s been practicing since early in the week. Carrick’s addition to the forward group was the only change to the lines from Game 2.
2. Thompson’s rough game headlined Buffalo’s loss on Friday night, but his linemate was encouraged by what he saw from him in practice on Saturday. Tuch said Thompson was “absolutely flying” at practice and “working on a lot of little things,” and was also eager to point out that Thompson was far from alone in his Game 2 struggles.
“He expects a lot of himself,” Tuch said. “I don’t think anyone is harder on him than Tage is.
“He knows it and we know it that we are going to need him to be at his best. I didn’t help him out there. I wasn’t at my best out there. I don’t think I really need to speak much on that we all have to do better, we all have to do better. He’s hungry. He wants to be better. He’s going to be better for us. He’s done it time and time again. I’m excited to see what he has in store for us tomorrow.”
3. It doesn’t look like Ruff is going to make a goalie change in Game 3. Alex Lyon had the net to himself at practice the day after he allowed four goals. This was the first off-game Lyon has had since he took over Buffalo’s net in Game 3 of the last series. Because of the Sabres’ season-long goalie rotation, neither goalie is particularly used to carrying the load the way Lyon has over the last couple of weeks. But Ruff thinks he’s handling it well.
“I think he’s handled it really well and I really do feel that,” Ruff said. “You have a deflected shot, tough save and you have one that’s going through a mess of players that he doesn’t pick up until late on the second goal. He’s given us excellent goaltending and I’ve had conversations with him; he feels good. I know he’s seen a great number of starts, which is unusual for us, but at the same time we wouldn’t hesitate to put UPL in there.”
Now doesn’t feel like the time to make a goaltending change. Lyon’s been a steady veteran presence on this team, and he competed hard late in the game to make a few strong saves. But Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is more than capable of stepping back in if needed.
4. Ruff and the Sabres certainly aren’t panicked after one bad game in this series. The feeling at practice on Saturday was similar to the feeling the Sabres had before they left for Boston in the first round. This is a team that is confident and comfortable playing on the road. And this team has also repeatedly found a way to respond to bad losses all season long. That doesn’t guarantee they are going to be able to solve this Canadiens team, but Ruff seems comfortable with his team’s mental state heading to Montreal.
“We talked before practice about balancing the emotions of wins and losses in playoffs,” Ruff said. “Going through this for so many years, sometimes when you’re winning, you don’t ever think you’re going to lose in the playoffs. And then when you lose one, you don’t ever think you’re going to win again. Same type of emotion we had after Game 2 of the previous series. We knew we had to go play really (well) in Boston, we did. The whole year, we’ve answered the call. We had a couple stretches after our 10-game winning streak. We played a terrible game in Columbus, and we bounced back with real good hockey. So really just reset, refocus. Let’s take the temperature down a little bit, knowing that we can be better.”
