If you are looking for a difference in approach between Lindy Ruff and former head coach Don Granato, the Buffalo Sabres veteran bench boss will not hesitate to call out a player publicly for a costly error. In the Sabres 3-1 loss to Los Angeles on Thursday, the key moment in the game came late in the third period with the Kings on the power play, when defenseman Mattias Samuelsson was penalized for slashing on an L.A. forward. The minor resulted in a brief two-man advantage and eventually Anze Kopitar’s game-winning power-play goal.
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“The Samuelsson (penalty) is like hockey suicide to take a penalty like that, because our penalty killers had done an unbelievable job. That is just lack of composure,” Ruff said. The group had played so well, the (penalty) killing had been so good to that point. We have to learn from that one. We’ve got to sense that ‘man, these guys are doing an unbelievable job.’ That’s not on the officials. That’s a good call.”
The minor was the first of the season for Samuelsson, who averaged more than 20 minutes per night on the top pairing with Rasmus Dahlin, but so far this season he has been playing on the bottom pairing with Connor Clifton and through three games is averaging 15:43 per night.
The Sabres are carrying eight defensemen on their roster and it is possible that Ruff could insert either Jacob Bryson or the more physical Dennis Gilbert against the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
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