Sabres HC Lindy Ruff appears to be concerned about the Maple Leafs’ travelling fans

Sabres fans’ frustrations with the team’s direction are reaching a boiling point with the team mired in an 11-game winless streak, so there may end up being an even larger percentage of fans repping the Blue and White at puck drop this time around. However, they should not be too upset because they will likely make a killing on the resale market, given how many Leafs fans will likely want to head south of the border.

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff knows this all too well, having spent a combined 16 seasons behind the Buffalo bench and 10 seasons as a player. Yet he also knows that his team is historically dynamite at home against the Leafs, with an all-time record of 74-33-8 going into Friday’s game. So to him, the directive is clear: get the Toronto faithful out of the game.

“You gotta embrace the challenge,” he said via News 4 Buffalo’s Sara Holland. “It’s not what you want to see in your building obviously, but we got a challenge ahead of us. We know it’s all about the two points, not about the fans. If we play well, we can take the fans out of the game.”

As mentioned earlier, the Sabres historically do well on home ice against the Leafs so there is reason for Ruff to believe that this is a prime opportunity to end their winless streak. After all, their previous meeting on Sunday saw Buffalo take an early 2-0 lead and were up 3-1 at one point before Toronto stormed back with three goals in a little over two and a half minutes so they feel they can repeat the first part and not let the Leafs claw back into the contest.

Toronto have started to see some success in Buffalo lately as it has gone 6-4-0 in its last 10 visits, with its last visit coming on the night Matthews hit 60 goals.

Tensions are running high with the Sabres, as they are likely heading toward their 14th straight season outside of the playoffs. Sabres fans are clamouring for the one constant they have each year, as the team historically owned the Leafs at home.

The two long-time rivals will square off on Friday with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.