BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan
01-12-2009, 05:29 PM
The Buffalo Sabres took part in a grueling practice Monday morning at HSBC Arena to prepare for an equally strenuous week.
The Sabres leave for Chicago tomorrow, to begin a stretch of five games in eight nights.
“Today was our last hard practice day,” Head Coach Lindy Ruff said. “We wanted to get a real good one in. It was probably as tough as you can make it but I thought we accomplished what we want to get done.”
After playing back-to-back games against the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings this weekend, the coaching staff opted to give the players Sunday off. The team made up for it Monday in a nearly 90-minute skate that featured an inter-squad scrimmage.
“Sometimes you wish you don’t get those days [off],” Derek Roy joked. “But we needed to work on some things so I think we worked on them and worked hard at them all practice long… We made some steps today.”
“It was a good practice to get everybody back at it physically and mentally as well,” Teppo Numminen said.
The Sabres will have to be ready as only one of the next five match-ups will be played at HSBC Arena. The team will travel more than 5,500 miles over the next week to Chicago, Dallas and Florida.
However, that could prove to work to the Sabres’ advantage.
Buffalo has been solid on the road this season, particularly on special teams. They are ranked second in the NHL, killing 89.9 percent of penalties on the road. At home the Sabres have only killed 84 percent.
The same pattern applies to the power play. Buffalo is ranked fourth in the League on the road, capitalizing on 24.3 percent of opportunities with the man-advantage. They have only scored on 17.8 percent of chances when at home.
http://sabres.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=403752
The Sabres leave for Chicago tomorrow, to begin a stretch of five games in eight nights.
“Today was our last hard practice day,” Head Coach Lindy Ruff said. “We wanted to get a real good one in. It was probably as tough as you can make it but I thought we accomplished what we want to get done.”
After playing back-to-back games against the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings this weekend, the coaching staff opted to give the players Sunday off. The team made up for it Monday in a nearly 90-minute skate that featured an inter-squad scrimmage.
“Sometimes you wish you don’t get those days [off],” Derek Roy joked. “But we needed to work on some things so I think we worked on them and worked hard at them all practice long… We made some steps today.”
“It was a good practice to get everybody back at it physically and mentally as well,” Teppo Numminen said.
The Sabres will have to be ready as only one of the next five match-ups will be played at HSBC Arena. The team will travel more than 5,500 miles over the next week to Chicago, Dallas and Florida.
However, that could prove to work to the Sabres’ advantage.
Buffalo has been solid on the road this season, particularly on special teams. They are ranked second in the NHL, killing 89.9 percent of penalties on the road. At home the Sabres have only killed 84 percent.
The same pattern applies to the power play. Buffalo is ranked fourth in the League on the road, capitalizing on 24.3 percent of opportunities with the man-advantage. They have only scored on 17.8 percent of chances when at home.
http://sabres.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=403752