The announcement was made on the team’s Twitter account and confirmed by Sabres spokesman Michael Gilbert on Wednesday. Ruff was relieved of his duties shortly after the team held a 90-minute practice, and a day after the Sabres were booed several times by their home fans during a 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

The Sabres (6-10-1) have gone 4-10-1 since opening the season with two wins.

With a 571-432-162 record, Ruff was the team’s winningest coach. In his 16th season, he was also the active leader among NHL coaches with the same team.

The Sabres, who play at Toronto on Thursday, have not yet named a replacement. General manager Darcy Regier was scheduled to address reporters later Wednesday.

The news came as a surprise only because Sabres management, including team president Ted Black, had spent much of the past week voicing its support of Ruff. Team owner Terry Pegula was also regarded as a big fan of Ruff.

Pegula, however, was running out of options in his bid to turn the Sabres into a Stanley Cup contender, an objective he made clear upon purchasing the team two years ago. Ruff’s firing comes nearly two years to the day Pegula formally took over as the Sabres owner on Feb. 22, 2011.

Ruff was becoming increasingly aware that his job was on the line. Last week, he described the Sabres’ struggles as being “his mess,” while adding he wasn’t done trying to clean them up.

On Wednesday, he abruptly cut short his availability with reporters by hinting that changes were coming because “it isn’t working the way we’re going.” He didn’t specify what those changes might be.

Under Ruff, the Sabres made the playoffs in each of his first four seasons and eight times overall. That included a surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1999, when Buffalo was eliminated by Dallas in six games.

The Sabres, however, haven’t been the same since they reached the Eastern Conference finals — losing both times — in both 2006 and ’07. Buffalo has missed the playoffs in three of the past five seasons.

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The Gunners face Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night and manager Arsene Wenger had made several changes, with Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla all starting on the bench.

Even so, there should still have been enough quality to see off the lower-division Championship side.

Gervinho missed a great chance at the end of the first half that proved costly as Colin Kazim-Richards’ scrappy effort after 72 minutes proved enough to inflict Arsenal’s first home FA Cup defeat since their move to the Emirates Stadium and hand Rovers a memorable win.

Wenger offered no excuses for the loss.

“We had 11 international players on the pitch at the start of the game. We had a lot of the ball and [Blackburn] defended well. We had 16 shots at goal, they only had one shot at goal,” he said. “We made a massive mistake on the goal and we were not good enough to win the game, it is as simple as that.

“Not one defeat is acceptable. You are in this job to win every single game.”

Arsenal now faces the possibility of an eighth season without silverware, unless it can come through in the Champions League. The home fans vented their frustrations as boos rang out around the Emirates at the final whistle.

“You do not want your fans to be happy when you lose at home to Blackburn when the team has one shot at goal,” Wenger said. “It is very painful and very disappointing to lose a game like that. What is important now is to focus on the next one.”

Blackburn, which still has not conceded a goal in this season’s FA Cup, fashioned an early chance when a free kick from the left was flashed through the Arsenal six-yard box and Markus Olsson knocked the loose ball wide at the far post.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had been given a chance to impress in midfield for Arsenal, and the England international was soon on the ball, releasing Tomas Rosicky down the right only for the Czech winger to clip his attempted cross behind.

Oxlade-Chamberlain then decided to do it himself, charging into the Blackburn penalty area and cutting a pass back across the six-yard box where Bradley Orr hacked clear.

The Rovers full back was shown a yellow card by referee Mike Dean in the 12th minute after scything down Gervinho as the Ivory Coast forward, back from the African Nations Cup, looked to break down the left.

Arsenal fans behind the goal at the Clock End called for a penalty when Rosicky’s cross hit Scott Dann on the arm as he blocked it behind for a corner, but the referee was not interested.

The home side continued to press, forcing a succession of corners.

In the 25th minute, Arsenal finally got the delivery right from Rosicky, and Abou Diaby rose to power a bullet header goalward, which Rovers goalkeeper Jake Kean beat away at full stretch with a magnificent reaction save.

Kean was on hand to palm away a looping header from captain Thomas Vermaelen, fit again following an ankle problem, as the Rovers goal was under siege again.

The best opening came just before halftime when Rosicky slipped Gervinho into the penalty area, but despite holding off the defender, the Ivory Coast forward dragged his shot wide of the post — before dropping to his knees and looking to the heavens.

Blackburn started the second half brightly.

Vermaelen had to be alert as he touched a cross behind with Jordan Rhodes waiting to knock the ball in at the far post.

Arsenal slowly regained momentum, and Diaby flashed a 25-yard effort wide.

Blackburn made a change after 63 minutes when Markus Olsson was replaced by former Arsenal man David Bentley, who rejoined his old club Rovers on loan from Tottenham — and received a less-than-warm welcome from the home support.

Rosicky crashed a 20-yard effort off the crossbar and Rovers defender Grant Hanley made an important block as Gervinho cut in from the right.

With 20 minutes left, Wenger had seen enough and made a triple substitution as Walcott, Wilshere and Cazorla replaced Gervinho, Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

However, out of nothing, Blackburn snatched the lead.

Martin Olsson burst into the left side of the penalty area and drilled the ball, which Wojciech Szczesny parried into the path of Kazim-Richards, whose scuffed follow-up effort bounced onto the post and in.

Arsenal immediately went on the offensive, with Walcott surging down the right, but was faced with a wall of blue shirts.

Diaby’s effort was charged down and Kean somehow saved a close-range header from Walcott before Giroud’s effort in stoppage-time was blocked as Rovers clung on for a famous win.

“To come to Arsenal and get through a cup tie is one thing, but to keep a clean sheet and defend as well as we did is another, and that is testament to our players,” said Blackburn boss Michael Appleton. “We have two man-mountains in the centre of defense.”

Later Saturday, a stoppage-time goal from substitute Matt Smith earned Oldham a 2-2 draw against Everton and a replay at Goodison Park.

Jordan Obita gave the Latics a 14th-minute lead at Boundary Park, smashing home with his left foot.

Victor Anichebe then leveled 11 minutes later with a crisp strike into the bottom left corner, and Phil Jagielka’s header three minutes after the interval looked to have done enough to give Everton the win.

However, Smith came out on top in a penalty-area scramble to head in an equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Luton’s impressive FA Cup run came to an end with a 3-0 defeat at home to Millwall. The nonleague side had stunned Norwich three weeks ago to reach this stage but found its Championship opponent one step too far at Kenilworth Road.

James Henry put the Lions in front after 12 minutes following a mistake by Janos Kovacs, with Rob Hulse adding another nine minutes before the interval from a tight angle. Dany N’Guessan then sealed the win with five minutes left to send Millwall through to the last eight.

A nonleague side has not made the FA Cup quarterfinals in 99 years.

Barnsley made it a hat trick of Championship teams in the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory at League One’s MK Dons.

Chris Dagnall opened the scoring for the visitors after just three minutes before Marlon Harewood doubled the lead in the 20th minute.

MK Dons fought back in the second half with a goal from Dean Bowditch, but Dagnall’s second in stoppage time put the tie to bed. Alan Smith’s late dismissal rounded off a miserable afternoon for the home side.

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Robin van Persie’s league-high 17th goal of the campaign gave United a 19th-minute lead, and the hosts looked likely to coast to victory at Old Trafford when captain Nemanja Vidic unwittingly deflected the ball in from close range to make it 2-0 in the 54th.

Daniel Sturridge pepped up a lethargic Liverpool when he came on as a halftime substitute and the new signing from Chelsea halved the deficit three minutes later, but Brendan Rodgers’ team couldn’t find the equalizer to cap its improved second-half display.

“It was a big game, everyone felt that during the week, and this is a great result,” said van Persie, who joined the team from Arsenal in August.

United is now 10 points clear of second-place Manchester City ahead of the champions’ match at Arsenal later Sunday, with its total of 55 points after 22 games the team’s highest tally at this stage of a top-flight season.

The game between England’s two most successful clubs, which share 37 league titles between them, was billed by some as a duel between Van Persie and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez — the division’s most prolific marksmen. Van Persie came out on top.

While Suarez was kept quiet — much to the delight of home fans who jeered his every touch as a result of his recent spats with United defender Patrice Evra — his rival continued his sensational scoring run that is keeping City at arm’s length in the title race.

The Netherlands striker beat marker Daniel Agger to Evra’s driven cross and calmly slotted the ball home from 12 yards for his ninth goal in his last nine games. Van Persie has also scored at least one goal in nine of his last 10 games.

“Robin van Persie is different class,” United striker Danny Welbeck said. “He produces moments in the game others can’t do and we are glad he is on our side.”

With Liverpool’s midfield giving the ball away cheaply and sitting far too deep, United was invited to attack at will and should have been more than a goal ahead at halftime.

Welbeck, given a rare start up front with Wayne Rooney still injured, thrashed wildly wide and Tom Cleverley went close with a volley. Van Persie then saw an impudent flick cleared from near the goal-line by Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel before Pepe Reina pushed the ball away from the inrushing Shinji Kagawa.

The first half highlighted the gap that has emerged between the two sides in recent years, with the last of Liverpool’s 18 titles coming back in 1990. It was much different after the break, though.

Sturridge was introduced for the second half for his league debut for Liverpool and his pace and energy sparked a vast improvement by the visitors, who finally tested the United defense.

The former Chelsea striker’s goal came only after United had stretched its lead, however, when Van Persie’s free kick was headed down by the unmarked Evra with the ball deflecting off the side of Vidic’s head into the net.

Liverpool’s riposte was almost immediate, Sturridge sidefooting home from close range after David De Gea could only palm out Steven Gerrard’s low shot, and it set up a tense last half hour for the home side.

Sturridge and fellow substitute Fabio Borini shot wide as United fans became increasingly anxious, and Sturridge had an even better opportunity in the 85th only to blaze over the crossbar from an angle.

United, which has made a habit of edging tight matches this season, is now 24 points clear of eighth-place Liverpool in the standings.

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