BUFFALO — In the Sabres’ first attempt to eliminate the Boston Bruins, coach Lindy Ruff said he sensed some nerves in his players.
Remember, 13 Sabres have made their debuts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the first-round series. Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series taught them finishing off an opponent is one heck of a challenge.
Fresh off a five-goal victory in Boston, the Sabres, who lead the series 3-2, faced a desperate team trying to save its season.
“I think you can look around the league and there are lots of examples in elimination games,” Ruff said Wednesday in KeyBank Center. “It was the first time for our players at home trying to eliminate a team. I think they got a little taste of it. Now we know we got to improve in a couple areas. We had our chances to win the game.”
The Sabres generated some prime scoring opportunities in third period and overtime. Ruff, for example, referenced a play in overtime that winger Jason Zucker might’ve scored on before linemate Jack Quinn moved into the shooting lane.
But after they took a 1-0 lead 3:35 into the game, Ruff said they played a little too conservatively.
That, of course, illustrates a team feeling some jitters. Ruff wants them to relax. The speedy Sabres are at their best when they’re attacking and wearing down their opponent.
“We needed just to stay on our toes and stay aggressive, and more puck pressure,” Ruff said. “We kind of deferred to playing a safer game in my eyes.”
The Sabres stayed off the ice Wednesday and will practice today. Game 6 is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in TD Garden, where the Sabres won Games 3 and 4.
“I just feel now pressure kind of reverts back to them in their building, and they haven’t played well in their building,” Ruff said. “And we get to go there and play in their building where we’ve won two games.”
The home team is just 1-4 in the series. Since the Sabres’ 4-3 win in Game 1, the road team has taken every game.
The Sabres won 6-1 Sunday afternoon in Boston and 3-1 last Thursday.
All over the league this postseason, road teams are wreaking havoc in hostile rinks.
“My only thought is there’s a lot of distractions at home,” Ruff said of the trend. “It’s hard. In case you have a lot of family, you’ve got friends. I mean, there’s a lot more going on at home for you as a player, I believe, than there is on the road. You’re kind of in quarantine and you’re at the hotel. …
“I think sometimes the road team can play a little bit different game, and you can frustrate the home team, too, at times.”
Since the Sabres began their tear Dec. 9, they’ve lost three straight games just once, from March 22 to 27. They suffered two of those defeats in overtime.
For nearly five months, they’ve consistently responded to challenges, quickly putting away wins and losses and “focusing on our game,” Ruff said.
“We’ll go through parts of the game,” he said. “There’s two or three areas we can improve for next game that we weren’t good enough at, and we’ll show two or three areas that we thought we can take advantage of the other team.”