The Sabres did not hold a morning skate today due to the early 5 p.m. start time for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Buffalo practiced yesterday in Voorhees, New Jersey after taking a 1-0 series lead with a 1-0 victory in Game 1 on Thursday.  After the session, the team talked about what it needs to do to be successful in Game 2.

Lindy Ruff on spending more time in the offensive zone:

“I think we turned over quite a few pucks on entrances and that didn’t allow us enough zone time.  We spent a lot of time in the neutral zone and I thought that hurt us… We know we can be better. We played a strong game but I think we can play a better game.  Offensively, we didn’t spend the time in the offensive zone that we wanted, and I think we’ve really gotta get after this one.”

Thomas Vanek on creating more scoring chances:

“Both teams took the middle away. Most of their better chances came on the power play. They did a good job but our penalty killing was good.  Five-on-five, we’re just going to have to get the puck deep, cycle it a little bit more and try to get some better opportunities.”

Patrick Kaleta on getting off to a quicker start:

“In the beginning part of the game, we were a little bit nervous. We could make better plays than what we did, better O-zone presence, too.  We’ve just got to step up our game a little bit.”

Nathan Gerbe on staying out of the penalty box:

“The biggest thing I see is discipline.  Obviously they have so many good players that they can be deadly on the power play.  We’ve got to stay out of the box; we can’t give them those chances.  It all comes together.  If you’re disciplined, you play more 5-on-5, and you get more chances.  It’s tough to get chances when you’re penalty killing all the time.”

Tyler Myers on generating more offense:

“I think we have more to give offensively.  I think we can hold the puck in their end, sustain some pressure for longer periods of time.  For Game 1, I thought was a good start.  We know they’re going to come out even stronger being down a game now, so we have to be ready to match it.”