Inside the NHL: Lindy Ruff now has the depth to get New Jersey playing a style we've seen before

At 62, it looked like a last ride was at hand for Ruff 9½ years after he was fired by the Sabres. Things were quickly at a crisis point in October when the Devils started the season 0-2. Ruff was booed when he was introduced at the home opener and heard chants of "Fi-re Lin-dy" during the 5-2 loss to Detroit.

Just over a month later, it's hard to believe what we see.

The Devils ran off a 13-game winning streak, which ended in controversial fashion Wednesday against Toronto. They came here Friday and were far more dominant against the Sabres than a 3-1 final score would show. They then improved to 18-4 with Saturday night's 5-1 home domination of Washington, giving Ruff his 800th career win and allowing him to join Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969), Barry Trotz (914) and Ken Hitchcock (849) as the only coaches in NHL history to get to 800.

Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald made some big moves in the offseason the last two years, the kind that Sabres counterpart Kevyn Adams will have to do the next two summers to augment his young, drafted core. Fitzgerald signed defenseman Dougie Hamilton to a seven-year, $63 million contract in 2021 and forward Ondrej Palat from Tampa Bay to a five-year, $30 million deal in 2022, although he has missed much of the season with an injury.

In July, the Devils made three key trades, getting goalie Vitek Vanecek from Washington, forward Erik Haula from Boston and defenseman John Marino from Pittsburgh. Only one of the six defensemen who played here Friday were drafted. But the forward group includes four first-rounders, including No. 1 overalls Nico Hischier (2017) and Jack Hughes (2019). The Devils finally got rid of veteran P.K. Subban, whose best days were long past him, have spent to the cap for players who actually contribute and are getting a mix that works supremely well.

"The defense first of all has played really well," Ruff said. "If you look at the addition of Marino and (Brendan) Smith, it's a veteran corps, not much for young guys on the back end there. And they've played really well. Up front, I think we just got some maturity out of Hughes, Hischier, (Jesper) Bratt. You throw a Haula in there, he's a good veteran guy that can play in any situation. We got Miles Wood back, who didn't play basically all last year. When you look at our lineup we've got speed through all four lines. And really the other team really doesn't get a break from us pushing the puck up ice."

That description and the way the Devils have burst on the scene basically from nowhere easily conjures memories of another signature Ruff team: The 2005-06 Sabres. When I brought that up to Ruff prior to Friday's game, he didn't shy away from the comparison.

"I compare the lines from 1-4 being similar, We weren't the biggest team back then but we had a third line that was (Derek) Roy, (Maxim) Afinogenov and (Thomas) Vanek. Good speed and a guy like Thomas who could really score complimented that line really well. You had a line with Danny Briere, a line with (Chris) Drury. We were strong up the middle. And I think we look at our team now and you've got Nico, we got Jack, we got Haula. Maybe it's a little different than what we had back then, but you look all of a sudden down the middle of the ice you've got some guys that can control the game."

The Devils have missed the playoffs the last four years. In the 10 years since their surprise run to the 2012 Stanley Cup final against Los Angeles, they have won exactly one postseason game. But here they are as a clear Cup contender come 2023.

This New Jersey team plays with tremendous maturity. The Devils have won nine straight on the road, one shy of their franchise record of 10 set in 2001 and three shy of the NHL mark of 12 set by Detroit in 2006. When they hit the first intermission Friday in a 0-0 tie despite a huge edge in play, there was no panic. They just went out and won the game in the second period.

"We talk about trying to get comfortable being uncomfortable," Ruff said. "You get in tight games or you get a period where you feel you should have got a couple but just stay with the way we need to play, stay with our game. I think last year we might have given up too many opportunities. This year, a lot more composure in situations like that."

"The way that they're skating and the way that they're pressuring pucks and getting on teams, we know that's a lot of how we play when we're successful," said Sabres captain Kyle Okposo. "And we know how it feels to play like that. When we get rolling downhill, it's difficult for the other teams and you can feel it. That's what they've got going. They're feeling it."

Sabres coach Don Granato said he felt the Devils were on the right path last season. 

"You're gonna break that threshold, all that struggle becomes easy, and you win more and more and more," Granato said. "I think they've been nudging toward that. They play their system. They play to an identity and they hit the repeat button. They remind me of Florida last year, same respect. They just had that, shift after shift after shift. It's the same identity up and down the rink and a credit to Lindy and his staff and the guys executing with that clarity."

Ruff has told New Jersey and national reporters this year how he's had to reinvent himself to meet today's player. There's more text messages and few phone calls these days and he joked recently to Pierre Lebrun of TSN and the Athletic that he's monitored players' social media feeds to find out what's up in their lives.

The Devils are proving Ruff isn't out of touch. As we saw in Buffalo, he could play a defensive-oriented team relying on goaltending (think 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2010) and he could have a team skate like the wind (think 2006 and 2007).

"The message to the group is that it's still early on in the season but every game matters," Bratt said. "We're all just excited coming back to the rink every day to play meaningful games."

"It's growth," Haula said after Friday's win. "Growth as a team and as individuals."

This team has quickly grown on the Devils fans too. During win 9 of the streak against Arizona, they started chanting, "Sor-ry, Lin-dy."

After the game, Ruff said, "I accept the apology and maybe one day we can all sit down and have a beer and laugh about it."

#NJDevils coach Lindy Ruff after the game:"I accept the apology." https://t.co/NBCpgxSaWH

— Ryan Novozinsky (@ryannovo62) November 13, 2022

Salming's debut as star vs. Sabres

There was sadness across the NHL with last week's death of Hall of Fame defenseman Borje Salming, felled so quickly after the onset of ALS. And plenty of thanks as well that Salming was able to attend Hall of Fame Weekend and be honored with a pair of emotional ceremonies earlier this month in Toronto's Scotiabank Arena.

Salming's NHL debut was against the Sabres at Maple Leaf Gardens on Oct. 10, 1973. He assisted on a Darryl Sittler goal in the first period and was named one of the three stars in a 7-4 Toronto win. But he had no idea what that meant, as the postgame ceremony had him mystified.

“They stopped me from going into the (locker) room and pointed me back out on the ice," Salming said that night, in a story recounted last week by Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun. "I had no clue what they wanted me to do, so I just watched the player ahead of me circle and wave and I did the same.”

Watching many Leafs games on Saturday nights on "Hockey Night in Canada" in the '70s, Salming was unquestionably my favorite Leaf. At the NHL100 in Los Angeles in 2017, I was fortunate to be in a group getting pictures of Salming with fellow Swedish legends Nicklas Lidstrom and Peter Forsberg.

At the NHL100 in Los Angeles in 2017, I took this photo of Borje Salming (middle) with Lidstrom and Forsberg. Swedish legends all. Salming was unquestionably my favorite #Leafs player of the 70s as I watched HNIC every week. #RIP pic.twitter.com/Io0iWPIoVc

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) November 24, 2022

For those of you that believe in higher powers comes this note from Leaf land: Their final game before Salming's death was Wednesday's win in New Jersey. It was Toronto's 21st game of the season, the final score was 2-1 and one of the Leafs' goals was the first in the NHL by a Swede, Pontus Holmberg.

And for those of you too young to remember, what number did Salming wear in Toronto? No. 21.

Sabres by the numbers

• Buffalo's early outburst Tuesday in Montreal that saw it score three goals in the first 2:13 of the game was the second-fastest from the opening faceoff in team history and registered on league lists as well.

It ranked eighth all-time in NHL annals, just behind three Buffalo goals in 2:11 in 2010 at Tampa Bay, and was the third-fastest in the league since 1993.

• The Sabres (3) and Canadiens (1) combined for four goals in the first 2:57, making it just the fourth game in NHL history with four goals in the first three minutes of play – and three of them have involved Buffalo. The other two were Oct. 27, 1976 (Pittsburgh 3, Buffalo 1 in 2:52 in a 4-4 tie) and Jan 2, 1983 (Buffalo 2, Hartford 2 in 2:54 in an 8-4 Buffalo win)

• A wild did-you-know: Sabres winger Jeff Skinner became the first player in NHL history to ring up multiple five-point games as a visiting player in Montreal and he's done it in a nine-month span. Skinner had two goals and three assists on Tuesday and four goals/one assist on Feb. 13. Skinner owns the Habs in his career, with 23 goals and 40 points in 37 games. 

• A big problem the Sabres have in the standings is their inability to at least get games to overtime and get loser points. They entered Saturday 9-12-0 and one of just six teams without an extra point for losing a game in overtime or shootout. There were 14 teams with at least three OTL points, and seven of them had four or more. That 9-12-0 mark would look and feel quite a bit different if it was, say, 9-8-4. That example would have had the Sabres three points out of a wild-card spot entering Saturday.

Since the shootout was instituted in 2005 and ties were dropped, the Sabres twice went the first 20 games without a loser point (2005, 2011). They surpassed that in Game 21 Friday against New Jersey. 

Around the boards

• The Rochester Amerks are red-hot thus far at home as Friday's 6-5 overtime win over Bridgeport moved the Sabres' farmhands to 7-1-1 in Blue Cross Arena. Five of the seven wins have come when trailing after two periods and the Amerks have scored at least four goals in all seven. Brett Murray scored Friday's OT winner and West Seneca native Sean Malone notched his first professional hat trick to lead the way.

• The Reverse Retro jersey champs from this view? The Sharks' California Golden Seals look with a close second to the Wild's tribute to the Minnesota North Stars. Still wish the Sabres had gone with blue pants rather than the all-white display.

The California Golden Seals look. They’re sensational. https://t.co/JgOHaSm6fx

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) November 26, 2022

• Most of the chatter you hear about Edmonton surrounds how many points are being piled up by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and with good reason. But there's lots of what's wrong too because the Oilers entered Saturday's game in Madison Square Garden just 10-10 in their first 20 games and fifth in the Pacific Division. That's a huge letdown after last season's run to the Western Conference final. They're still not good enough defensively and don't get nearly enough saves.

• The Kraken healthy scratched No. 4 overall pick Shane Wright for five straight games, and thus were able to send him to Coachella Valley of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. Playing for former Sabres coach Dan Bylsma, Wright scored in back-to-back games last week at Calgary. It seems Wright is headed to join Sabres No. 1 pick Matt Savoie with Team Canada at the World Juniors and then a decision has to be made about Seattle vs. the Ontario Hockey League.

It's the dilemma the Sabres had with Jack Quinn: Too good for juniors and not good enough yet for the NHL. A  suggestion would be to allow for one exemption per organization for a teenager to go to the AHL, but the NHL transfer deal with the Canadian junior leagues is ironclad and doesn't allow it. It's an old agreement that doesn't fit today's top NHL prospects but there's no sign that it's going away.

• Anaheim's 3-2 win over the Rangers Wednesday was its first regulation victory of the season, and it took the Ducks 19 games before they got one (5-13-1). That was one shy of the NHL record of 20 set by Arizona in 2017-18 (2-15-3). Anaheim remains mired in the NHL cellar and in the lead in Connor Bedard lottery odds after Friday's 5-1 pounding at the hands of Ottawa.