With new additions John Scott and Steve Ott, the Buffalo Sabres are a tougher team than the one that was embarrassed early last season when Boston’s Milan Lucic ran over Ryan Miller without suffering any consequences.
But the Sabres have also lost four straight heading into tonight’s game against the Bruins at TD Garden.
As such, head coach Lindy Ruff is more concerned with his team getting a victory than proving it’s not afraid of the big, bad B’s.
“You try to win the puck battles and the territorial battles,” Ruff said today, per the Buffalo News. “We have to win a game. Not coming out of here with points is not being successful. In a short season we need points. We’ve answered the physical challenge. We’ve been there for each other from day one in this. We play a gritty style, a hitting style. We have to win games.”
Ruff also noted that the Sabres have already played the Bruins since the Lucic incident, and that Paul Gaustad dropped the gloves with the menacing Boston winger.
Still, don’t be surprised if there’s a scrap or two tonight. When Scott signed with the Sabres this summer, he promised nobody would get away with running Miller again.
Plus, if Scott can convince Lucic to go -- and what’s Lucic going to say? No? -- that would be a nice trade-off for the Sabres.