It was a difficult season for the Buffalo Sabres, but the club won 5-4 over the Philadelphia Flyers in its final game of the year, giving head coach Lindy Ruff the 900th win of his head coaching career.
Ruff became just the fifth coach in NHL history to reach the 900-win mark, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969), Paul Maurice (916) and Barry Trotz (914).
Sabres’ forward Alex Tuch, who scored a goal and assist, said after the game it was important for the team to get Ruff his 900th win of his career.
“It’s good to get the last win there of the season, and to get 900 for him, I think it’s really special,” Tuch said. “I think it meant a lot to our group. I know he says it (doesn’t), but I’m guessing it probably means a lot to him, too. That’s no small feat there, and hopefully next year he keeps climbing up the leaderboard.”
“It’s a number, for sure,” Ruff said after the game. “Just means I’ve coached a lot of hockey games, had a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches, from management-down, to put a lot of trust in me.”
In his first stint as Sabres head coach, Ruff made the playoffs eight times, including a defeat in the 1999 Stanley Cup Final and four trips to the Eastern Conference Final in 1997-98, 1998-99, 2005-06 and 2006-07.
After a stint with the Dallas Stars, Ruff spent the past four seasons with the New Jersey Devils. The Devils turned a corner during a rebuild, including reaching the second round of the playoffs last season.
