Lindy Ruff isn't the only NHL head coach to bust out the dynamite and blow up his forward lines.
Washington Capitals rookie bench boss, Adam Oates, did the same thing to his forward trios on Friday morning. Oates had no choice. His team was winless and had just gotten spanked the night before by the Montreal Canadiens. The Caps didn't win Friday night, however, the lost in OT to the New Jersey Devils. They Caps now have one point for the season. They have a long way to go, and a short time to get there. Scrambling his forward lines seemed to work for Oates.
Here's how Oates configured his four forward units on Friday night:
Ovechkin was given no choice but to play with two grinders. Oates explained that beagle and Crabb had skated a lot of time in AHL Hershey and that they could keep the pace and tempo with Ovechkin, who spent the lockout playing with Moscow Dynamo in the KHL.
Oates doesn't have many more options. His team is tile winless in this truncated 48 game season. He needs points in order to improve his team's place in the standings. Another week of winless hockey will put his team at the bottom of the eastern standings. On Friday night, he rubbed sticks together and made a speark. He was hoping to start a fire, but the moral victory is his team didn't lose, again.
Ruff is wondering if his new combos will pay dividends too. At today's practice, Ruff blew up his bottom nine forward combinations.
The only group he spared was the wonderfully productive Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville line. Vanek missed practice due to a muscle strain in his back. Ruff's hopeful that vanek will be ready to play Sunday afternoon.
Lindy is not about to screw up a good thing. He'll, 26-19-29 have scored 9 of Buffalo's 11 goals so far this season. Breaking them apart for the sake of doing so would be ludicrous.
Oates told the media after Saturday's practice that the reason for his decision to rebuild his line combos is conditioning. The rookie coach has talked NHL game-ready conditioning every day since training camp started. Ditto Ruff.
During the lockout, NHL coaches were not able to interact with their veteran players, therefore, there was no sure way to know whether the players were putting in the work while skating shinny at the local rinks in their towns. Ruff, like Oates, was able to track the progress of players who opted to skate in Europe or in the AHL during the lockout. For example, its no wonder that Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville are flying high right now. Each players invested serious time in their respective conditioning by playing meaningful hockey during the 113 day lockout. Vanek played in 11 games in a month for his hometiwn Graz 99ers. Its no wonder why he's been playing so well in the NHL's first week of play. Hodgson was a point a game guy with the Rochester Amerks, and wer it not for losing five weeks of playing time to a broken bone in his right wrist, Hodgson would have piled up a ton more points for his team. Pominville skated with the boys at Northtown Center in Amhesrst, then he accepted an invitation to play with Jochen Hecht for Adler Mannheim in the DEL.
Oates told the media on Saturday that he's still preaching conditioning. he knows who on his team is in NHL game shape and who isn't.
“Trying to find balance and chemistry,” Oates said. “The biggest subject we’ve been talking about is conditioning and just trying to make sure that we have someone in the line that has got game shape, total game shape.”
Ruff has gotten a four game sample of his team's conditioning, too. He can see that his first unit is in tip top condition. He can also see the warts on certain forwards and defenders who are making a habit of having lazy, undisciplined mistakes during games.
Ruff is looking for wins, and he'll play who he has to, with whom ever he has to, in order to accomplish his goal of qualifying for the playoffs.
Don't take the 15th place Capital lightly. They have scored only eight goals and have given up 17 (-9 goal differential).
Sounds like the Carolina Hurricanes all over again, doesn't it?
The Caps PK has been a garage sale so far this season.
The Sabres PP should be licking its chops.
The Caps already allowed 8 PPG against (16 for 24 PK).
Whats more, they've given uo a 5-on-3 PPG against in three of their first four games.
caps winger Joel Ward:
"It feels like we’ve been killing five-on-threes every game,” Joel Ward said. “If we could kind of prevent those and get a few on our side it’d be a big benefit for us. It’s essentially a slam dunk. You definitely hope you can stop it, but you can’t give those up all day. That will come back to bite you".
Lindy Ruff addressed the Thomas Vanek injury after the team's practice at Northtowns Center.
Ruff said that he is "hopeful' that his leading scorer will play tomorrow in Washington.
Vanek skipped the on-ice skate today so that he could rest his back. He hurt himself when he took a hard fall on his lower back on Friday night.
Knowing what I know about Vanek, he'll tape a Tylenol to the pain and play through it.
Which Sabres forward is going to pick up the scoring slack of Vanek cannot play?
Vanek, Hodgson, and Pominville excluded, Steve Ott is the only other Sabre forward to score a goal this season.
Time for secondary and tertiary scoring to ante up.
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Photo courtesy, Dan Hickiling
Regarding Mikhail Grigorenko, Ruff said that its likely that he will sit the Russian rookie, provided Vanek is healthy. The reason is not a discipline issue. Its more of a strategic one so that the Sabres don't burn Grigo's last game of his tryout. Sitting him Sunday would mean that he would be able to stay with the Sabres and get valuable practice time with the team on Monday.
According to Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat, Ruff appears to be regretful that the he wasted a game of Grigo's eligibility in the 3-1 loss to Carolina on Friday night. Grigo skated only two shifts in the final forty minutes. Ruff opted to shorten his bench and to play Hecht-Kaleta-Gerbe against the Eric Staal line. Grigo skayed 6:48 TOI. For that Ruff is kicking himself.
“I like where his game has been. Even his early shifts I thought were good shifts. They had the makings of doing something good.”
Grigo told me after Friday night's game that he was ready to go once his name was called. he waited, and waited, and waited, and the opportunity never arose
.
Today Ruff explained it further:
“I got to a point he (Grigo) hadn’t played for so long I didn’t think it was fair to throw him in a tough situation,” Ruff said. “Your legs aren’t going. I burned up a game really is what I did.”
Sounds like the old coach has a regret about his handling of Grigo.
Doesn't exactly sound like a coach who is eager to send the kid back to Patrick Roy and the Quebec Remparts.
Lindy also said that against Washington, "every puck is going deep. No more of this pond hockey (bleep). In the two losses to Carolina, Ruff said that his team tried to squeeze pucks where they didn't belong, and that his forwards were trying to do way too much. Lindy stresses a north-south game, and it sounds like he's sick of the east-west crap that his forwards have been trying and failing with.
One assumes Foligno is just a prax replacement for Vanek. Marcus will move down to second line on Sunday, or will he? What if vanek's back is acting up on Sunday and he cannot play in the 3pm game?
I like Grigo between Ott and Stafford. 9 and 21 have formed continuity and chemistry while killing penalties together. Very complimentary of Grigo's passing skills. Both can finish chances.
Ennis between Hecht and Kaleta is ok to me.
I'd scratch Scott for Sunday and replace him with Ellis.
All eight D-men are on the ice. I expect a change or two on the back end to send a message to the group that sloppy D-zone play ( ie: Regehr's gaffe on Semin PPG; Myers PP turnover that led to 3 on 1 against Miller) play will not be tolerated in a 48 game season.
Weber and Brennan are hungrier than ever and they want to play.
Dead last. Thirtieth out of thirty teams. The NHL basement is a lonely place for a team that cannot win face-offs with any consistency.
Buffalo’s face-off loss percentage is 59.4%. Their win percentage is 40.6%.
Four games into the abbreviated season, the Sabres find themselves mired in mediocrity in terms of winning face-offs. Sabres centres are having a nightmare of a time in all three zones of the ice. Neutral zone face-offs have been shaky. Offensive zone face-offs have been a mess. D-zone draws have been the Achilles Heel. Did you happen to see Tyler Ennis’s act on the Jay Harrison game winning goal on Friday night. Another lost draw that ends up under mining another Ryan Miller masterpiece. This is not an isolated incident. It’s a crisis. The centres are losing the puck on the draw, however, the wingers are whiffing at recovering the loose pucks before the other team takes possession of it. It takes three forwards to lose a draw, not just the centre. Four games into this lockout shortened season, Kevyn Adam and the Sabres coaching staff have little time to find the solution to this infuriating problem. Its not like the team has two or three days off between games. 48 games in 97 days doesn’t allow a position coach the opportunity to take his centres out onto the ice with a bucket of pucks for a tutorial in face-off acumen. Today. The Sabres skate at Northtown Center, then fly to Washington where they will meet the struggling Capitals on Sunday.
Here’s a game by game analysis of the problems that are plaguing the Sabres.
vs. Philadelphia:
Ott went 4 of 6 on draws, or 67% He was 3-3 in the offensive zone, and 0-2 in D-zone.
Hodgson was 11 of 20, of 55%. 4-9 O-zone; 3-9 D-zone; 4-6 neutral zone.
Grigorenko was 5 of 9, or 56%, including 2-2 in O-zone.
Ennis was 11 of 17, or 65%, including 4-7 O-zone, and 5-7 D-zone.
Ellis was 2 of 4.
Hecht was 2 of 9.
At Toronto:
Ott: 3 of 5, or 60%
Hodgson: 5 of 22, or 23%
Grigorenko: 47, or 57%
Pominville: 2 of 5, or 47%
Ellis: 1 of 3 or 33%
Hecht: 1 of 7, or 17%
Ennis: 2 of 14, or 14%.
At Carolina:
Ott: 2 of 3, or 67%
Hodgson: 4 of 18 or 22%
Grigorenko: 1 of 3, 33%
Pominville: 3 of 4, or 75%
Hecht: 6 of 11, or 55%
Ennis: 7 of14, or 50%
Vs. Carolina:
Ott: 4 of 7, or 57%
Hodgson: 10 of 21, or 48%
Grigorenko: 2of 4, or 50%
Hecht: 4 of 15, or 27%
Ennis: 2 of 12, or 17%
Conclusion: When you don’t start with the puck, you can’t go on the attack. You spend your 40-45 second shift chasing down the puck so that you can turn it over. You can’t play Lindy Ruff’s puck-possession format if you can’t win draws. The Sabres never thought that they’d miss Paul Gaustad and Derek Roy this badly.
My advice to Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier is two-fold:
Hold the centres accountable. If they cannot win draws in the O-zone and D-zone on a consistent basis, then they can’t play. Winning draws is not easy to do in the NHL. You have to want to compete for each and every win. Cheat, hack, slash, trick the opponent. Do anything and everything to win the puck so that the attack can begin. The wingers have to be held accountable as well.Especially the weak-side winger. If they see a lose puck on a lost draw and they are not moving their feet at a high rate of speed to recover it, then sit that forward down. Laziness and gliding to loose pucks should not be tolerated in any zone on the ice.
In the bigger picture, I’d trade a defenseman for a veteran centre who can help improve the face-off win percentage. I’m not talking about trading for a Stamkos, Staal, Tavares, or Giroux. I’m talking about a Sam Gagner-type player who takes each and every face-off loss personally.
Lindy Ruff’s answer today will be to mix up his bottom nine forwards. He’s already committed to keeping Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville together. For obvious reasons, he’d be crazy to dismantle that line right now. All others are fair game for re-assignment. Personally, I think Grigorenko has been more responsible in the face-off circle than Ennis has been thus far. For this reason I would move Grigo between Foligno and Stafford. On the third line, I’d make it an open competition between Ennis and Hecht to see which player can make the most improvement in the face-off wins department. I’m not impressed with Hecht at centre. I’d move Hecht back to the wing where he belongs, and place Matt Ellis at the fourth line centre ice spot. Big John Scott hasn’t added any true value in four games, therefore, I’d park him on Sunday.
Tough back to back losses for the Sabres to the Hurricanes.
The Sabres committed enough mistakes in the past two games to fill the deck of the USS Little Rock. No wonder they lost. Terrible D zone coverage like Regehr on the Semin PPG on Friday night. Like Myers gacking up a puck on the wall on the PP, thus creating a 3-on-1 breakaway for the Canes. Good thing Eric Staal hit the post on his shot attempt. Like the putrid face off losses by the Sabres centres, especially the D zone faceoff that Harrison scored the GWG on. Is it too much to ask to win a draw? Or, better yet, is it too much to ask the Sabres wingers to use their sticks, feet, and asses to win loose pucks off of face off losses.
Not all things were bad for the Sabres in the two losses to the canes.
Lindy Ruff praised the Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville line for their heroics. he especially praised Thomas Vanek for leading the team offensively.
Ruff let it be known that beginning Saturday, his bottom nine forwards are going to be mixed and matched. Changes are on the way.
I won't be at all surprised if Mikhail Grigorenko is in the middle of Marcus Foligno and Drew Stafford. Why not? Lindy's got nothing to lose at this point. His team has scored 11 goals in four games, and Vanek-Hodson-Pominville have scored 9 of them.
Thanks, sabres.com
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Understandably, Thomas Vanek was pissed off after the loss. He took a critical penalty at an in opportune time with two and a half minutes left in regulation in a one goal game. Vanek was sent to the box. Skinner scored the empty net goal.
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