BUFFALO - Lindy Ruff had a quick request for reporters Thursday after the Sabres’ first training camp sessions: keep it brief. He had tailgating on his mind.
The Sabres coach and his team were headed to Orchard Park later that day for the Bills’ first regular-season game at the new Highmark Stadium, a 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions that gave Buffalo another big night to remember.
Ruff admitted Friday at LECOM Harborcenter that the pregame fun may have gotten a little out of hand.
“That’s all private information,” he said, then paused. “Broke three tables.”
The jokes aside, Ruff said the experience was a special one for the Sabres. When players appeared on the video boards drinking from beer horns, the crowd of 60,644 responded with a loud ovation - the kind of reception that wouldn’t have happened a year ago, before Buffalo ended its playoff drought.
“I thought it was awesome,” Ruff said. “I think the great thing about our community is the relation (between the teams). We’re in the playoffs, and we got some of the Bills riding the Zamboni and doing the beer sword, just here supporting us.
“And for our guys to go there and support them and be part of it, it’s just a great thing about being in Buffalo, you got two sports teams that interact with each other. That reception our boys got, I thought, was special.”
Ruff also made clear the football game itself lived up to the setting.
“Unbelievable game,” Ruff said. “The stadium was electric, the atmosphere was unbelievable and Josh Allen’s performance was second-to-none again.”
He called the whole night “top notch,” adding, “From the way they started the game to just how loud the stadium got at times was incredible,” Ruff said. “So I think you’ve got great memories from the old stadium; I think those are going to fade pretty fast because it’s a pretty special building.”
Back on the ice, the Sabres are also facing a different kind of challenge with a shorter camp and a reduced preseason slate. Their Blue and Gold scrimmage Saturday morning at KeyBank Center carries added weight, especially with only four preseason games on the schedule instead of six.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, players with 100 NHL games or more can only appear in two preseason games, which makes every chance to evaluate the roster more precious.
“It just gives everybody that extra game,” Ruff said of the scrimmage. “There’s veterans that wanted to play more game, guys that said, ‘I want to play three games.’ And the answer is you just can’t.
“So part of putting this camp together was to have our guys together right away, was to put this scrimmage in and get them extra, really, what we can simulate as close to game situations as you would face in a preseason game.”
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