Miller stung by Ruff’s remarks
Coach singled out goalie for play
TAMPA, Fla. — There was no way to misread this: Ryan Miller was not happy with his coach’s criticism.
The Buffalo Sabres goaltender, singled out by Lindy Ruff after Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Florida, abruptly ended his interview Friday shortly after being told of Ruff’s comments. The coach said the first goal “was an easy play for Ryan to read,” and Miller used the slight to close his chat.
Told he may face more oddman rushes because Ruff wants his defensemen to join the play more, Miller — clearly taken aback by the earlier words and getting more emotional by the second — uttered, “Well, I guess I’m going to have to read better,” and took off toward the team bus following practice in the Ice Sports Forum.
It was unclear whether Miller or Patrick Lalime would start tonight when the struggling Sabres visit the Tampa Bay Lightning in St. Pete Times Forum. Miller has started two straight and seven of the past nine.
The Panthers’ opening goal came when Miller moved to his left to challenge Michael Frolik, who passed across the ice to Gregory Campbell. Miller couldn’t slide back across the crease in time to stop Campbell, who had just hopped off the bench to join the play.
“We talked about me sitting back so I can make the read, and I sat back. And he made a play to a guy, and I was going to challenge [Frolik] and he got cut off, and they just threw a guy off the bench and I didn’t read that,” Miller said. “So, I mean, I could sit back and make another play, but everything’s magnified right now. One or two goals [allowed] a night is fine as long as you’re winning, but right now everything’s going to get looked at. So whatever.”
Ruff didn’t like either goal Miller let in — “You’ve got to get saves there,” the coach said after the game — but the netminder made at least two good stops on odd-man rushes.
“We got three guys caught within a couple minutes, even late in the second period with 30 seconds left there was another guy caught,” Miller said. “There was a few instances in that second period where we got caught. We got probably four or five oddman rushes to our one, and they had enough pressure on our rush to make it miss.”
It was an edgy Friday all around as the Sabres practiced hard for more than 75 minutes and Ruff continually shouted at his players to perform better. They are 2-8 in the past 10 games.
“I told them we’re going to work harder,” Ruff said. “We’re going to continue to work harder. They won’t be any days off. There won’t be any mornings off. We’re just going to keep working harder.”
Ruff was furious during practice when his forwards made coverage mistakes that turned into two-on-one chances. He also was upset with the effort his front men put in Thursday during the closing minutes.
“If our five-on-five scoring’s going to be better, our forwards have to do more,” Ruff said. “I’m not going to accept two or three shifts off at the end of the game. I’m not going to accept two or three shifts off in the middle of the second period. We have to play a complete game, and we didn’t.
“We’ve got some guys that lose hope too quick, that get frustrated and lose hope. That’s a couple of our skill guys. They lose hope, then their feet quit moving, and pretty soon we’re chasing people down the ice. It’s a frustrating game.
“Don’t lose hope. Don’t get frustrated.”
Captain Craig Rivet seemed frustrated with his upper-body injury. It’s not healing as quick as he’d hoped, and he is expected to miss his third straight game. He doesn’t feel he is strong enough to challenge forwards in front of the net.
“It’s sore right now,” Rivet said. “There’s still too many limitations in what I can do on the ice.”
Forward Clarke MacArthur skipped practice and is questionable for tonight. A shot by the Panthers struck his ankle, which was too swollen to allow him to put his skate on.
Defenseman Mike Weber’s call-up was a short one. Summoned from Portland in case Toni Lydman was unable to play against the Panthers, Weber was sent back to the American Hockey League team Friday.
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