TORONTO — Lindy Ruff knows the Toronto Maple Leafs are fielding a lineup for Tuesday night's game that tilts in favour of his Buffalo Sabres' slim playoff hopes — no Mats Sundin and Andrew Raycroft making his first start in goal in almost two and a half months.
But the Sabres' head coach is loath to admit it.
"You're looking at a guy who's stepping between the pipes and desperate to show he should have played more," Ruff said Tuesday after his team's morning skate. "I don't think we can take anything for granted."
Ruff also knows the Leafs played well in most of the five games Sundin missed between March 15 and 25 with a groin injury. Now that the injury flared up again and Sundin is out for Tuesday's game, the Sabres are discounting that as an advantage.
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However, they need every edge they can get, considering their precarious position in the NHL playoff race. The Sabres go into the Leafs game five points out of the last two playoff spots with three games left to play. They have to win all three games and hope one team among the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals lose all of their last three games. It is the only way they can sneak into the post-season.
"We need help but we've got to do our part at the same time," Ruff said. "We've been in need-to-win mode for three months. Unfortunately, for the last four or five weeks, we've played .500 hockey."
The Sabres have been coping with their own run of injuries lately. They will be missing defencemen Dmitri Kalinin (shoulder), Teppo Numminen (heart surgery) and Jaroslav Spacek (chest) and forwards Tim Connolly (hip) and Michael Ryan (groin).
