Things started off nicely for the Buffalo Sabres this season after winning their first two games. Two losses in a row to the Carolina Hurricanes, however, have coach Lindy Ruff shaking up his lines.
Mike Harrington of the The Buffalo News has the update on how Ruff is juggling things and it’s thanks to a lack of production with three other lines. The Sabres have only one goal from a forward not named Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, or Cody Hodgson and that’s bad news for the rest of the team.
Vanek had rest from practice this morning and Marcus Foligno subbed for him on that top line. His usual line with Ennis and Stafford, however, has been broken up. With Gerbe back healthy and Ville Leino (hip) still out of action things aren’t quite back to normal.
Meanwhile, Ruff tells the press, as Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald notes, Grigorenko could sit out to keep him from reaching his fifth game and forcing the team to decide to keep him or send him back to juniors. He also had this to say about how the team is going to play from now on.
#Sabres Lindy just said, "Every single puck is going to go deep. No more of this pond hockey sh*t." #Buffalo
— Bill Hoppe (@BillHoppeNHL) January 26, 2013
Right on, man.