Published: April 07, 2009 09:35 am      

SCHMITT: Is symmetry between Ruff, Regier finally slipping?

BUFFALO — They’ve lived in harmony for longer than Jacko and McCartney. Lindy and Darcy. Darcy and Lindy. A team. The perfect mix of reason and rile.

And to be honest, I didn’t think either was at fault for the mess the Sabres found themselves in as the final playoff spot slipped slowly away. Excuses have been easy to find, if you know where to look — between injuries to both Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek, to the tragedy of an airplane crash disrupting the lives of the team’s Clarence residents.

But after Monday’s embarrassing loss to Detroit, the second straight home effort where the Sabres fell behind by three goals while clinging to their playoff lives, I’ve finally come to see the light.

After Marian Hossa banged in his second of the night, giving the Red Wings a 3-0 edge, Ruff replied with Adam Mair, Paul Gaustad and Daniel Paille.

That’s right — with what amounted to 11 minutes left in his team’s season, Ruff felt the Sabres’ best chance to get energy in the building was with three guys who’ve combined for 29 goals on the season.

The move actually worked, as Gaustad answered with the Sabres’ lone goal of the night, stuffing the puck over the left pad of Chris Osgood for the locals’ lone bright spot.

But the fact that Ruff felt his best bet was a line of muckers gives some insight into how he feels about the roster his longtime business associate has compiled — he can’t win with them.

Thomas Vanek — whose wages, salaries and tips line of his 1040 will read at least $8 million — was nowhere to be found. Again. Ruff said Vanek’s health was in question during his postgame press conference, but the coach did so a defeated man, slipping subtly into conversation that Vanek should have picked up Hossa on Detroit’s third goal.

Vanek has not been a regular at crunch time, despite being one of the highest paid players in the league. If and when that happens, it falls squarely on the shoulders of the general manager. His biggest investments — Vanek, Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht — don’t look they were worth the investment.

All on the GM.

In usual circles, that’s grounds for dismissal. Maybe not so in Buffalo, where the Sabres have inadvertently used cheapness to become trend-setters. Regier and Ruff’s record tenure together has long been looked at as a source of stability.

But something’s amiss. A team in the throes of a late-season dogfight should show more desire, more immediacy. The kind of fire you saw from Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris, a women’s basketball player who was willing to pay back her scholarship, then stuck by her word, tears and all, after going down clawing and scratching in the Final Four.

There was no feeling like that on Monday night. Not on the ice, where the Sabres floundered after missing a few early chances, and not in the stands, where it felt like an exhibition game. People here knew the season had ended on Saturday, when Buffalo fell flat against the Devils. They didn’t seem emotionally invested in the least. The players mimicked their indifference.

Call that what you will, but Ruff’s insistence on playing the grinders — and before he was injured, Patrick Kaleta was getting more and more ice time — was a sign that Ruff, too, has lost confidence in his guys.

He knows they’re not willing to go hard, so he won’t let them go at all.

Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.