Ruff Changes Sabres Lineup After Dallas Loss Against Mammoth

The Buffalo Sabres are reshuffling their lineup before facing the Utah Mammoth at KeyBank Center after a 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars. Coach Lindy Ruff is replacing several players to improve effort, puck battles and consistency after Buffalo opened the season 2-2.

Colten Ellis is expected to start in goal after stopping 18 of 20 shots in his season debut against Minnesota, according to NHL.com. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has a 1-2-0 record, a 4.02 goals-against average and a .782 save percentage through three starts, according to Sports Yahoo.

Ruff said the lineup changes were focused on competitiveness and daily contributions from players. Buffalo is also seeking improvement after scoring 2.50 goals per game and ranking last in the NHL without a power-play goal, according to Audacy.

"If you want to stay in the lineup you have to play hard and you've got to be bringing something to the table every night," said Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.

Ruff specifically pointed to young forwards Konsta Helenius and Jiri Kulich as players needing stronger puck competition. Helenius and Kulich were removed from the lineup against Utah, while Sam Carrick and Tyson Kozak were inserted.

"When it gets right down to it it's hard compete, compete on pucks, there's a lot of details that goes into every shift whether it's 50-50 help on faceoffs, the compete part is the heavy compete on pucks where we got smoked the other night. He's going to be a good player, just part of being young is that up and down, that consistency part and some of it is the details for the game," said Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.

Ruff said Kulich's absence was not caused by the elbow injury he suffered against Dallas. The coach said the forward needs to become more effective in physical puck battles.

"It's the hand-to-hand combat, it's the puck compete around the pucks, everybody gets a little beat up, I'd like to see that part of his game to be a lot more tenacious. He got hurt, but he can play," said Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.

Ruff also reviewed specific situations from the Dallas game where execution prevented scoring chances. He emphasized details during shifts, faceoffs and offensive-zone pressure.

"Just really talk about the process, talk about the details of the game, you've got a 35 second shift that starts with a faceoff. I can show you o-zone faceoffs where we didn't get into the way, so it didn't allow us an opportunity to maybe get a scoring chance. In my eyes we probably get one, but we didn't hold up or we didn't get in the way.

I can show you where if we middle lane drive instead of pull up, we're either going to get o-zone time or we may get a scoring chance. I thought some of that was missing in our game," said Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.

The coach met with Zach Benson and Josh Doan, highlighting their forechecking and puck pressure. Ruff said Buffalo as a group needs to win more battles and stay engaged throughout games.

"I had a meeting with Benson and Doan this morning about just what they brought to our team, that tenacity, the puck pressure they created, first on pucks, I don't think we've done as good of a job as a group not just those two but as a whole group, we haven't done a good job at first on pucks, winning puck battles and staying in the battle, the message this morning was, stay in the battle or we're going to be a team that scores two goals per night," said Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.

Buffalo enters the matchup against Utah after both teams suffered heavy defeats. The Mammoth lost 6-1 to the Boston Bruins after opening the season with three wins, while Utah's power play had previously operated at 61.5 percent through four games, according to NHL.com.

"Our starts have to be better. We have to start putting the puck in the back of the net early," said Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.