Woolley got the Wings going in the right direction when he pounced on a Brett Hull rebound at the left circle and Woolley flipped into the empty corner past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. It came when there were only 6 seconds remaining in the Wings powerplay. Miller, the former Hoby Baker winner from Michigan State, couldn't get over in time after making the big save on Hull.

"There might have been a little fate involved in that goal," Woolley admitted. "There was a little incentive for the team to win for me tonight. I could feel it. It felt good."

It was one former ex-Michigan State player scoring on another. Woolley had also started his venture into adult hockey at Michigan State and was well aware of Miller's status.

Woolley acknowledged that the two had "great relationship. We'll be talking about that in the summer."

After Woolley got the Wings rolling, the main scoring presence of the Red Wings took over the game. Sergei Fedorov got two goals at the beginning of the second period to put the game away and Igor Larionov got the fourth Detroit goal. Tim Connolly and Denis Hamel got the Sabres goals to make it closer than it actually was.

To the Sabres and their fans, it was Woolley that was the real story of this game. Woolley and Ruff had a few pregame barbs and continued it well after the game.

"All day I couldn't stop thinking about how this game was going to go," projected Woolley. "I just wanted to win, but I wanted to make an impact. There might have been a little bit of fate involved with that goal. The combination of scoring and winning was just what the doctor ordered for me."

Woolley suggested that he and Ruff could "have a few beers over it down the road."

"Not a chance in hell," retorted Ruff when told of Woolley's statement. "He's not having a beer with me."

Woolley talked about his constant benching by Ruff in the coach's attempt to motivate him.

"Every time I sat out, I wanted to come back the next game and stick it up your....," replied Woolley. "I think my teammates always respected that. But it also hurt me in that they started to think, "We know we can sit Woolley out, he's going to respond.' "

"Last year, Lindy told the team, "I don't care who you are. If you don't perform, you're going to sit.' That couldn't have been any more B.S. because the same guys got sat out all the time.

"I just felt that no matter what I did it wasn't good enough. I don't think I ever understood our relationship. We weren't communicating much. Once my assistant captaincy was taken away, I felt that was a shot I didn't deserve."

The battle of words continued with Ruff taking the Bully by the horns, "He had a chance to talk to my face and denied it," Ruff responded. "If you want to come out and say something and then just say it.

"I'd like to see (him) say it to my face. He's found the gravy train. He's riding on top of the world right now, and he thinks it's easy when you're up there to take a shot. It just sounds like another player that doesn't want to be held accountable."

"It just sounds like another player that doesn't want to be held accountable. You've got to compete on a daily basis. As a coach you listen to excuses, and Jason was a guy that needed 25 pair of skates. And it was never him, it was the equipment. His hips needed to be aligned. It was flying in a special doctor. We catered to his every need, or we tried to.

"This is his fifth team," Ruff continued. "He was put on waivers. Nobody wanted him. Everybody in the league had a chance to watch him play and pick him up for free, but they didn't."

Blues and Isles losses keep Sabres sinking fast

The Sabres were up 2-0 against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, but couldn't hold the lead. That has happened numerous times this season and it is an alarming trend. Keith Tkachuk got the Blues going after Adam Mair and Tim Connolly put the Sabres ahead 2-0.

Lightning struck twice for the Blues as only 1:08 after Tkachuk's goal, St. Louis tied it up. Rhett Warrener blotched a clearing attempt and Steve Martins came up with a break down into the Sabres zone. With just one move, he got Sabres goalie Martin Biron and the two Sabres D-men, Warrener and Brian Campbell, the fall and Martins shot it top shelf giving the Blues a huge momentum boost.

"It was a killer, that one I threw up the middle," admitted Warrener. "It's late in the period. If we still go into the third with a 2-1 lead it's a different game. It was a big mistake at a bad time."

With a quarter of a period to go in the game, Blues defenseman Jeff Finley came in to help keep the play in the Sabres zone and shot it past Biron for the game winner.

Against the Islanders on Saturday, the Sabres took the opening lead on a goal by Connolly, but the Isles chipped away to beat the Sabres 3-1. Aaron Asham started the rally and Oleg Kvasha got the game winner. Shawn Bates scored with just 8.5 seconds left into the empty net to give the Isles a 2 goal victory.

"It was pretty good for a while there," said Connolly, who started his three game goal scoring streak. "But they didn't give up, and we didn't shut them down. You always want to come back and beat your old team and give it to the guys a little bit on the other team. But it's a big disappointment losing to them."

Ruff felt the Sabres deserved a better fate on Long Island. "We basically carried the game, and in the third period they had two opportunities to score, and they scored on both of them," responded Ruff. "I thought we took the fans out of the building. Until that second-period power play, we owned this building and this game."

Sabres Talk

"I appreciate the fact they let me come to (Detroit)," Woolley said. "I gave a lot to that organization, and they treated me fairly on the way out."

Woolley has fit right in with the Wings.

"He's done everything we've asked of him," lauded Wings assistant coach Barry Smith, who used to have a similar position behind the Sabres bench. "He's moved himself up to play against the opposition's better forwards now defensively. He's moved up to be a very valuable asset for us."

Woolley had a new lease in life when he first came to the Wings.

"Stepping into this dressing room is probably not the easiest thing in the world to do," Woolley said with a smile. "It's loaded with Hall of Famers and high-priced free agents, and it's a Stanley Cup team. You don't want to ruffle any feathers. But from Day One they showed me so much respect.

"Kenny Holland (Wings General Manager) told me when we first talked, 'Listen, there are two guys on this team who thought highly of you and really wanted me to go out and get you: Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman.' I told Kenny, "Just make sure you point those two guys out to me so I know who they are.' "

Then Woolley looked over in the direction of the Sabres locker room and said earnestly, "I hate to see them go through this (the bad season and the bankruptcy). I'd really like to say it's not bothering them, but that's B.S. There's no question it's got an effect on the team. It's an awful environment to be asked to perform in."

Miller, who looked a little nervous playing in front of family and friends in Detroit, wished he could have had at least one goal back, the second one scored by Fedorov.

"I'm really disappointed in Fedorov's second goal," admitted Miller. "It was a play where I thought I had it. It twisted its way through the pants. All in all I can take a few things away from the game. I thought I had a few good saves, but we lost. And we've got to get out of this funk."

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