Sabre Coach Lindy Ruff gave his team an earful during Tuesday's practice at the H.S.B.C. Arena. Ruff wasn't happy with the offensive intensity shown by his club and threatened to pull them off of the ice.
"There were parts of practice that I was frustrated with. Some of the drills we were working on to create offense I didn't think we put enough into it. After awhile we put a little bit more into it. The message is, we scored 2 goals in the last 2 games and if we scored a few more we would have been in even better shape."
Coach Ruff was hoping that increased intensity will carry over into games.
The Sabres left for Chicago Tuesday afternoon. They'll play the Blackhawks Wednesday night. Patrick LaLime will start in net while defenseman Henrik Tallinder returns to the lineup after sitting out Saturday's loss to Detroit.
The Blackhawks boast former Sabre Brian Campbell on the blueline and 21-year old Buffalo native Patrick Kane up front. Coach Ruff says that Kane is beyond his years on the ice.
"When you can play at the age, and play at that level, you've got a maturity that's beyond your age."
The Sabres are tied for 7th place in the Eastern Conference with Carolina at 47 points. Chicago is 4th in the West with 53 points. The Hawks are have lost only 3 regulation games at home so far this season.
"There were parts of practice that I was frustrated with. Some of the drills we were working on to create offense I didn't think we put enough into it. After awhile we put a little bit more into it. The message is, we scored 2 goals in the last 2 games and if we scored a few more we would have been in even better shape."
Coach Ruff was hoping that increased intensity will carry over into games.
The Sabres left for Chicago Tuesday afternoon. They'll play the Blackhawks Wednesday night. Patrick LaLime will start in net while defenseman Henrik Tallinder returns to the lineup after sitting out Saturday's loss to Detroit.
The Blackhawks boast former Sabre Brian Campbell on the blueline and 21-year old Buffalo native Patrick Kane up front. Coach Ruff says that Kane is beyond his years on the ice.
"When you can play at the age, and play at that level, you've got a maturity that's beyond your age."
The Sabres are tied for 7th place in the Eastern Conference with Carolina at 47 points. Chicago is 4th in the West with 53 points. The Hawks are have lost only 3 regulation games at home so far this season.
