Sabres offense on fire
By Rick Anderson
November 1, 2003

Chris Drury, who has been on fire recently, drives into corner and beats the Leafs Joe Nieuwendyk to the puck. Drury scored in 2 out of the last 3 games.

[Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images]

The Buffalo Sabres left the fires of California with their offense ablaze.

It is probably much to early to proclaim the Sabres as a scoring machine, but the last week, the Sabres have been hitting the back of the net a lot more than their norm. In three of their last 5 games, the Sabres have scored 5 goals, winning all three. They also snuck in a 3-1 win over the powerful Colorado Avalanche at the same time the Buffalo Bills were getting their heads handed to them in Kansas City Sunday night.

"I think we're getting an idea of what we can be," said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. "The team has really played well offensively."

After beating the Avalanche in Denver, the Sabres came home with a very impressive 4-2 mark in their longest road trip in club history. Buffalo had three consecutive victories in the last half of the 6-game trip and it was expected that they would be somewhat flat in their first home game in two weeks. It came to pass that the Minnesota Wild ended the Sabres winning streak by beating them 3-1 before a half-empty HSBC Arena Tuesday night.

However, the Sabres righted themselves Thursday night before a packed house of both Leafs and Sabres fans. The Sabres had yet another 5-goal night as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3. The Sabres came out with their new aggressive look and took it to the Leafs right away, grabbing a 2-0 lead with goals by Alexei Zhitnik and Ales Kotalik 77 seconds apart. Toronto came back and tied it in the first period, but the Sabres once again took a two goal lead when Chris Drury and Miroslav Satan displayed their skills. With the Sabres and Leafs fans trying to win the cheering battle, the Sabres had to once again hold on as the Leafs narrowed the gap 4-3. Buffalo sealed the victory when Taylor Pyatt had a breakaway on an empty Toronto net and was mugged before he could get his shot off. In normal situations with a goalie defending the goal, Pyatt would have been awarded a penalty shot. In this case, the goal was awarded to Buffalo even though a shot was not taken.

Leafs bring the best out in the Sabres

The Leafs always seem to bring the best out in the Sabres, especially in Buffalo. Ever since the Sabres moved into HSBC Arena, they have manhandled the Leafs with a commanding 13-2-3 record. Even though the Leafs sometimes have the advantage of the number of supporters in the stands, they just can't translate that into victories in Buffalo.

"We've been playing good on the road. We weren't concerned," said Ruff about playing what was almost another road game considering the Leafs fans outnumbered the Sabres fans. "We're an equal-opportunity team. We'll supply entertainment to both sets of fans."

The Leafs, meanwhile, didn't know how to contend with the suddenly potent Sabres offense. They blamed themselves for breakdowns.

"On many of their goals, we turned the puck over when we had control and they end up putting it in the net," Matts Sundin said. "That's a hard way to win games in the National Hockey League."

Leafs coach Pat Quinn agreed.

"A lot of the miscues were not the kind you expect from veterans," Quinn said. "It's early and it's easy to finger-point, but this is a 20-man effort. There were too many mental errors."

Ruff enjoyed the atmosphere which rivaled a college football game with fans on both sides trying to outshout the other.

"I thought the building was electric," acknowledged Ruff. "That might be as good a game as you're going to see. On a skating standpoint, a hitting standpoint, a transition, you wish hockey games could be like that every night."

Drury power

Chris Drury has been slowly working his way into the Sabres system and that has resulted in more goals coming his way. At the start of the season, Drury was not getting on the score sheet often, but his leadership was obvious from the start.

Veteran defenseman James Patrick saw that Drury was the kind of leader the Sabres needed.

"I knew he brought skill and speed, and that he'd been a clutch performer in the playoffs," reflected Patrick. "But I think his work ethic, his intensity and his competitiveness far outweigh his other qualities. We needed those things more than anything. I mean, every shift in practice he works his butt off."

Drury showed some of his flash when he scored the winner against his old team Sunday night. The Colorado fans showed some class and cheered Drury when he was heading off the ice and also when he was named the game's first star.

"I did notice when I scored and I was skating off the ice," said Drury about the fans giving him an ovation for his helping the Avs win the Cup a couple years back. "I heard it, and to be honest with you it felt pretty nice that they appreciated my effort and my time here."

Another star in the game against the Avs was goalie Martin Biron, who seems to be establishing himself as the Sabres No. 1 goalie. Biron stood on his head the for the first half of the game and finished with 32 saves.

"We needed some big saves to stay alive," said Ruff, "and he made the saves at the times we needed them."

Drury, who took a penalty late in the game, also gave Biron high marks.

"I'm just glad Marty came up so big for us," lauded Drury. "It was a great win for our team. We weren't really at our best for the first two periods, and Marty kept us in there. It's a huge win."

Also scoring in the game against the Avs were Kotalik, who opened the scoring with a power play tally, and J.P. Dumont, who scored into an empty-net.

Drury also scored in the second period against the Leafs, a powerplay goal to help get the Sabres momentum going again against Toronto.

Sabres come home flat as pancakes

While the road trip was a success, their first game home in two weeks was a big step backwards. The Sabres didn't seem to have their legs and once the Wild scored first, the Sabres could not penetrate the Minnesota trap.

The Wild took the lead when they scored a shorthanded goal late in the first period. Andy Delmore coughed up the puck to Wes Walz, who waltzed right in on Biron and beat him cleanly. From there, the Wild took a 3-0 lead before the Sabres finally got skating in the final stanza.

"We're not going to make any excuses," said Jay McKee after that game. "We got beat by special teams tonight. We let in two goals on their power play and we didn't do enough on our power play. We're not going to make excuses getting in from the West Coast trip. We're just not going to do that right now."

Sabres talk

Pat Quinn has tried just about everything to end the Buffalo jinx. He has practiced early at HSBC Arena, not stayed at any hotels, making the trek to and from Toronto, and even skipped the normal morning skate at HSBC Arena on Thursday. Nothing seems to help.

"Sometimes I'm not sure it's luck," admitted Quinn. "We let the second period get away from us after a good first period. We made some mental errors late in the game, which we seem to be doing lately."

"A lot of the miscues were not the kind you expect from veterans," Quinn continued. "It's early and it's easy to finger-point, but this is a 20-man effort. There were too many mental errors."

The Leafs had the momentum when they tied it up, but let it slip away in the second stanza.

"It's not a physical thing, it's more mental," the Leafs Tom Fitzgerald said. "The second period has been our nemesis and we have to put our thumb on it and fix it. We made it a 2-2 game so you'd think going into the second period that we had a pretty good momentum swing. Maybe we rested on our laurels. We found out that when you give up that many shots in a period you're probably going to find yourself down."

Mika Noronen, who started his first game since losing in Vancouver, held on in the third period to get the win.

"They were hanging there for a while, but we were so much of a better team tonight," admitted Noronen. "Eddie really kept them in the game. In the third period, he made a couple huge saves."

After scoring what proved to be the winning goal against the Avs, Drury accomplished one of the dreams of sports stars who get traded away. To score the winning goal against one's former team is usually a cherished moment, but to Drury, it meant more for the team than personal reasons.

"I was just shooting it five-hole at the net," Drury explained his goal. "I think it hit (Phil Sauve's) leg or something and jumped up. It's nice to win the game. It was a huge win for our club. This is a heck of a trip for us. Six games. I think, mileage-wise, it's the longest trip in history for the Sabres. To come away 4-2 and beat these guys for the fourth one, we should be pretty proud."

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