Lindy on Offensive Struggles

Sabres HC Lindy Ruff explain how the team needs more from their star players to get the teams offense going.

Transcript

00:00It's two goals in the three games, Lindy.

00:03You had some question about that before the season.

00:05You would get questions about offense.

00:07Josh Norris being out, do you feel like best players are playing up to their standard?

00:14Or even beyond that, do you feel like you have enough best players to score goals at the level you need to?

00:19I think we do.

00:21Again, and I was asked this the other night, your best players have to be your best players.

00:26Your best players are the ones that, through a season, that will win you hockey games.

00:33If you look at that connection on our top line, which last year was basically Benson, Kalik, and Thompson,

00:42the number of opportunities they created inside of the game.

00:46Tommer's points per game were, I think, 1.18, playing with those guys.

00:52When you roll out your top players, your top players have to be the guys that produce for you.

00:59They have to be, 90% of the times, your top guys when it comes to defending against other teams' top players.

01:09I look at, we have plenty of guys that can produce.

01:13And part of it, it has to come from men.

01:17Part of that is the structure of playing faster.

01:22Playing faster, creating more tenacity.

01:26Like I said, I thought we got closer to it.

01:29You know, we talked a lot about we have to be a better defensive team.

01:36Defensively, we're answering the bell.

01:38Offensively, right now, I don't want to hear about guys that are out of the lineup.

01:42Every, I think, you let in with Brady Pachuk is going to be out of the lineup for four weeks.

01:48You can't spend any time with that.

01:49We can't spend any time with Josh Norris being out of the lineup.

01:52We need more out of the guys that are in the lineup.

01:55When the guys in the lineup get their chance, and usually a chance comes when somebody gets injured,

02:00you step up in the lineup.

02:02It's the chance you've been waiting for.

02:04We need guys to grab a hold of that and take it right now.