The Buffalo Sabres have have lost five of their first seven games to begin the month of February and have slipped three points back of the New York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
But, from the reports out of Buffalo, head coach Lindy Ruff was singing a positive tune this Valentine’s Day.
“We’ll find it. We’ve gone through it,” Ruff told the Buffalo News.
“We knew we were a little young down the middle but it will come. I’m confident it will come. It’s all on me to clean this mess up. I’m not done trying.
“It is on me. I understand that. This is on me to clean it up.”
The Sabres are two days removed from a 2-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators, and will host the Boston Bruins Friday.
Ruff currently holds the longest active tenure as a head coach with the same club in the National Hockey League, and, according to an article out St. Louis Post-Dispatch four days ago, had the fifth longest tenure among coaches from the other major sports leagues in baseball, basketball and football.
However, Ruff’s time with the Sabres has been called into question, particularly by Buffalo News sports columnist Bucky Gleason.
“Most are stunned Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff have survived when common sense called for their dismissal long ago,” Gleason wrote four days ago.