Buffalo Sabres: Line Shuffle Working for Lindy Ruff
February 1st, 2013 by Andy Lipari Leave a reply »When Patrick Kaleta went down with a neck injury against Toronto on Tuesday night, he may have helped the Sabres in the long run. Buffalo will miss Kaleta’s physical presence until he returns from a neck injury, but losing a forward forced Lindy Ruff to mix up his lines.
Coming into the 2013 season, the line of Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford and Marcus Foligno was put together because of the success that it had in 2012. In just 14 games, Foligno alone had 13 points playing with Ennis and Stafford.
The Sabres had been struggling for offense this season outside of Thomas Vanek, who leads the NHL with 15 points. Ruff moved Ott to center with Ennis and Stafford on the wings and put Foligno with Mikhail Grigorenko and Jochen Hecht on the third line.
It only took six minutes until the new Ott-Ennis-Stafford line found the net against Toronto, and Grigorenko scored his first NHL goal against Toronto as well. Luckily, Ruff saw the new lines clicking and decided to give it a shot again against the Bruins. The new third line was on the ice in Boston when Buffalo tied the game 4-4.
The styles of the new lines look like a bet ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Andy Lipari
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