Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff sensed his team needed a spark after a Game 2 loss that represented the club's worst all-around performance in months. So, he turned to journeyman goaltender Alex Lyon, who hadn't played a full game since March 27.
Lyon, who struggled mightily in his final three appearances of the regular season before suffering an injury in practice, responded by stopping 24 of the Boston Bruins' 25 shots in Game 3 as the Sabres reclaimed a 2-1 series lead with a crucial victory on the road.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet discussed the Blue and Gold's change in net from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to Lyon during Friday's episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast.
"Buffalo's best game of the series. No question," Friedman said. "Again, this an example of a coach having a good pulse on the room. So, Luukkonen gives up the bad goal [from center ice in Game 2] and we're sitting here and we're saying, 'OK, do you make the goalie switch?' This is where you have to know what's really happening."
Ruff has been reading his team almost perfectly since early December. He's figured out when his players need to get chewed out, typically when he believes their compete level dips to an unacceptable level, and when they need a little support with some positive public comments.
Giving the crease to Lyon at a key turning-point moment in the series wasn't without risk, but the longtime coach and former NHL player made the right call once again.
"That shows to me that Lindy Ruff has a good handle on his group," Friedman said. "Changes the goalie, loses Josh Norris [to injury] and they win."
The 66-year-old Canadian has spent the entire season showing he's still got his coaching fastball, and that's why he's a top contender for the Jack Adams Award as the league's Coach of the Year.
Buffalo Sabres started to solve Boston Bruins' defensive riddle in key Game 3 triumph
The Bruins aren't trying to hide their approach to upsetting the Sabres in this series. They're playing a hyper-conservative brand of hockey, simply flipping the puck into the neutral zone every chance they get and making sure to have five players behind the puck at all times.
Boston is never going to let the high-powered Buffalo offense get going at full speed. It's going to slow the pace, focus on the defensive zone and hope it can generate just enough offense either via counterattacks on Sabres turnovers or on the power play.
To the credit of Bruins coach Marco Sturm, who tried to bait Ruff's group into a more physical series with his comments before Game 1, it's been mostly effective.
Instead of doing a full regroup, which allowed the Bruins to either reset their defensive structure or make line changes, Buffalo instantly tried to regain the line and start a new cycle. There was a lot less time for the B's defense to breathe in the second half of Game 3.
It allowed the Sabres, who'd often been relegated to long-range, low-danger shots early in the series, to start creating more dangerous looks against Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman.
Now the question is whether the Bruins will attempt to adjust, maybe becoming more willing to take some chances to create their own offense, or if they'll continue to lean on their defensive shell to see if they can grind out enough hard-fought, low-scoring wins to advance.
Meanwhile, the other point of contention for Ruff and his coaching staff, namely assistant Seth Appert, is the struggling power play.
Buffalo has been fruitless on 36 consecutive attempts with the man advantage dating back to the final games of the regular season. It's in an 0-for-14 drought in this series alone.
The problems remain the same as they were in October (and last season): The Sabres struggle to gain the line with possession, relying on an overused neutral-zone drop pass that opponents are fully prepared to defend, and their movement within the offensive zone once they do get set up is virtually nonexistent in most cases. It's frustrating to watch.
A typical Buffalo power play sees about 90 seconds of regrouping after a cleared puck along with two long-distance shots by a frustrated Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.
At this point, it's clear Appert doesn't have a solution. So, the pressure is on Ruff to take on a more active role in trying to come up with some fresh PP ideas on the fly.
Could the Sabres advance past the Bruins with a useless power play? Perhaps, but there's no way to survive four rounds against the NHL's best teams if you're losing the special-teams battle every single night. It's not going to happen.
So, while Ruff has done a fantastic job finally getting things turned around in Buffalo, his work is far from finished if his team is planning on an extended postseason stay.