Ruff rips into refs
BOSTON — Needless to say, Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff was disappointed with his team’s 3-2 overtime loss tonight in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Bruins.
But he was a lot more critical of the officiating than his team’s play after the game.
The Bruins started their comeback from 2-0 down in the third after Cody McCormick was whistled for goaltender interference 1:58 into the stanza. David Krejci scored just nine seconds later.
The Bruins didn’t capitalize on a Patrick Kaleta boarding call at 2:34, but built the momentum that led to their tying goal off Patrice Bergeron’s stick at 6:40 of the period.
“The call on McCormick wasn’t a call. Their own guy took their goaltender out,” Ruff said. “And if Pat Kaleta hitting [Milan] Lucic is a call … that’s strange. I thought we were getting a power play on the McCormick play .. their own guy took the goaltender out. Pretty big swing in momentum for us.”
Ruff was later asked if the Sabres “blew their chance” to even up the series. He again pointed the blame at the officials.
“We didn’t blow it,” he said. “I just explained what happened. We didn’t blow it. Nobody blew it. Do you think Pat Kaleta hitting Lucic was a penalty? And [Mark] Recchi hitting [Tim] Kennedy is a penalty .. is it not? Is that the same? Case closed.”
The case is close, and the verdict is a 3-1 Bruins lead in the series with Game 5 Friday.
[...] refs are to blame! Of course! Matt Kalman of the Bruins Blog details Ruff’s complaints, highlighted by him blaming the overtime loss on the striped [...]
This guy is high. Hit from the back and a hit from the side is two different things. The last thing Buffalo should be complaining about is the officating. Buffalo came out hard and the Bruins responded. Did he not see the punches thrown at Ference in game 3. No coach in any sport should ever blame the reffs. No class coach
I equate Sobotka’s goalie interference penalty at Buffalo to McCorrmick’s same infraction last night – And Lucic’s boarding penalty earlier in the night was no different than Kaleta’s in the third. I (personally) would not have called any of the above penalties, but I don’t think Ruff should be blaming the officiating for last night’s loss. In fact, I would go so far as to point out the tough or lack of calls that Boston had to deal with when the series first started in Buffalo (Vanek’s push from behind, Myers’ questionable hit on Boychuck, Lyman’s spear…) But as the old cliche goes, Buffalo “needs to find a way to win” – but for Boston’s sake, let’s hope that they don’t. Go B’s.