Lindy Ruff erupts after Sabres steal Game 4, rips Jakub Dobes and referees
Lindy Ruff didn't hold back on Jakub Dobes Tuesday night, taking direct aim at the Canadiens goalie after the Sabres pulled out a 3-2 win in Game 4.
His complaint started with the disallowed-goal review. Ruff said he flat-out disagreed with the call. He accused the Czech netminder of swinging his stick and initiating contact every time a forward gets near his crease.
He thought the review would go Buffalo's way. It didn't.
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Then he went after the officials. "A couple of very soft calls," he said. He admitted his group failed the discipline test, something Buffalo had specifically addressed the day before.
A coach who just won blaming the refs and the other team's goalie in the same breath? That's the part raising eyebrows around the league this morning.
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Dobes finished with 19 saves on 22 shots at the Bell Centre. Not a steal, but enough to keep Montreal in a one-goal game late.
Zach Benson buried a power play goal that stood as the winner. Buffalo took the discipline test loss but cashed in when it mattered.
A series tied 2-2 heads back to Buffalo Thursday
Game 5 goes Thursday night in Buffalo. The Sabres carry home ice into the swing game of the series, having gone 26-10-5 at KeyBank Center this season.
Cole Caufield scored Montreal's lone power play goal and fired five shots on net. Pair that with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopping 28 of 30, and you understand why Ruff slept on something other than satisfaction.
The regular-season head-to-head between these clubs split 2-2. Montreal won 4-2 in October at home, then 4-2 in Buffalo in January. The Sabres took the two in between.
The 24-year-old started 43 games for Martin St-Louis during the regular season and posted a .901 save percentage. He's been the workhorse Montreal turned to once the calendar mattered.
Ruff's broader message looked aimed at Thursday's officiating crew more than the locker room. Coaches don't drop crease complaints on a Tuesday night for fun. They drop them to plant a flag.
Where it lands is the open question. Sometimes the league listens. Sometimes the goalie gets the call anyway and a coach looks small.
The Sabres pulled it off on the road and still walked out unsatisfied. That's the kind of result a coach typically celebrates, not buries under complaints with the next puck drop 48 hours away.
He won the game and still spent his presser policing the other team's goalie. That tells you how badly Buffalo wants the next call to go their way.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 12, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mason McTavish | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Olen Zellweger | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||