Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishBUFFALO, N.Y. — If the Buffalo Sabres had any notion that they’d figured things out or turned a corner, their recent four-game stretch should serve as a necessary reminder heading into the offseason.Lindy Ruff is still stuck on 899 career wins after the Sabres extended their losing streak to four with a 4-0 home loss to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. It was a tight game throughout in which a few mistakes cost the Sabres before the Leafs tacked on a pair of goals in the final two minutes. When Auston Matthews scored an empty-netter to make it 3-0, the thousands of Leafs fans in attendance went wild. Rasmus Dahlin smashed his stick over the goal post and tossed what was left of it onto the ice.On this night, the Leafs clinched the division, got Mitch Marner his 100th point and Matthews his 400th goal. Meanwhile, the Sabres just found another way to lose. All the good feelings they generated from the five-game winning streak amid a 10-3 stretch have been replaced by another losing funk.“That’s been the story of our year,” Sabres forward Jason Zucker said. “So we have to figure that out. We have to be better. We have to challenge ourselves individually and as a team and make sure that we’re fixing this come next year.”How much different will next year look? That’s the question hanging over this franchise right now. On Tuesday, Adams appeared on WGR 550 and said Ruff, 65, will be back to coach the Sabres next season.“He has a burning desire to make sure the Buffalo Sabres become a successful team,” Adams said when asked about Ruff’s energy for the job. “As personal as it is with me in this job, in growing up here and being from Western New York, it’s extremely personal for Lindy, too, because he spent such a big chunk of his professional career with the Buffalo Sabres. He wants nothing more than to get this thing going in the right direction. I believe he is as energetic and passionate about the game as he was when I coached with him more than 10 years ago. So I have no concern on that.”At this point, Ruff and Adams both look likely to return. Ruff will get one more crack at career win 900 in the Sabres’ final game of the season on Thursday, then Ruff and Adams are scheduled to conduct exit interviews with players before meeting the media in the days that follow. After that, the real work begins trying to fix a roster that regressed for the second straight season and fell well short of expectations. The Sabres currently sit 26th in the NHL standings and could fall as far as 28th depending on what happens in the final few days of the season.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made several good stops against the Leafs in a promising return to form. (Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)1. Owen Power left the Sabres’ game against the Panthers on Saturday with a lower-body injury. He was tied up in a collision with Carter Verhaeghe and twisted both legs awkwardly. Adams said Power is going to New York City on Thursday to get a second opinion on the injury. What’s up in the air is whether he will get surgery or be able to just rehab the injury.Adams said Power will be ready for the start of next season regardless of which treatment path he takes. While it’s not ideal that Power will spend a chunk of his offseason rehabbing, it sounds like he avoided the worst-case scenario.2. Adams also provided a bit of clarity on the mid-body injury that has kept Josh Norris out of the lineup since March 12. Adams described the injury as a soft-tissue injury and said it was unrelated to the shoulder injuries Norris has dealt with in the past.Norris initially suffered the injury while playing for the Senators and the Sabres were aware of it. He came back from the initial injury sooner than he should have and re-injured it with the Sabres. The timetable for the injury is six to eight weeks, so Norris should be healthy entering the offseason.3. For the second straight game, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played well enough to get the Sabres a win. That’s an encouraging way for him to finish what has otherwise been a disappointing season. It doesn’t erase what happened earlier in the year, but Luukkonen needed the confidence. And given his contract, which has four years remaining at $4.75 million per year, it’s tough to imagine he’s going anywhere. He needs to find his game again. He does that when he’s sitting back farther in the net and staying confident in his reads.“I feel like when we talk about confidence it doesn’t mean I’m mentally down or anything,” Luukkonen said. “Of course it hasn’t been easy, but it’s more the fact of trusting my own game and playing the right way, making the right reads, kind of understanding that the game is still there.”The Sabres didn’t do Luukkonen a ton of favors this season with how they played defensively, but they need him to return to the form he showed at the end of the 2023-24 season. For most of the game on Tuesday, he looked like that goalie.4. Unfortunately for Luukkonen, his numbers could have looked even better on Tuesday. After the Leafs scored an empty-net goal, a lackluster effort on defense led to another goal. Pontus Holmberg got behind Connor Clifton and won a battle for the puck along the wall in Buffalo’s defensive zone. Then Jacob Bryson left his spot in the middle of the ice to try to get the puck, but Holmberg passed it to a wide-open Nicholas Robertson. Isak Rosen was backchecking but couldn’t get to Robertson in time.“I hated the fourth goal because (Luukkonen) gave us a good game,” Ruff said. “That goal pissed me off.”Bryson signed a one-year extension on March 20. Since then, he has played five games and been scratched 10 times. The Sabres are 0-5 when he plays and have been outscored 7-0 when he’s on the ice at five-on-five. His on-ice goals against average during that stretch is 6.42, according to Natural Stat Trick. That contract is a head-scratcher when roster spots will be at a premium this summer and the defense is in need of a clear upgrade.(Top photo of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Mattias Samuelsson: Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)
