Buffalo Sabres bench boss Lindy Ruff has been through far too many NHL battles, both as a player and a coach, to give his team a pass for a lackluster performance.
So it's no surprise Ruff delivered an honest assessment of the Sabres' 2-1 home loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. It was a game that lacked the trademark offensive zone intensity that Buffalo established over the past three months.
"I felt we had like four or five guys that weren't really going that well," Ruff told reporters. "It was one of those games that I felt a couple of our guys were flat, our passes weren't quite on, we were missing some shots up top, we were missing lanes.