Comeback kids do it again against Florida
By Rick Anderson
November 11, 2006
The Buffalo Sabres have made it exciting for their fans. For most of the
season, the Sabres faithful have been on the edge of their seats, watching their
team make comeback after comeback. It was more of the same on Friday night as
the Sabres came back from being down 2-0 and then winning in overtime...again. The Sabres not only came from 2 goals behind, so did the Florida Panthers,
who stormed back late in the third period after being down 4-2. It was the sixth time that the Sabres have come back from being 2 or more
goals down to win a game. They fell quickly behind the Panthers 2-0, roared back
to score 4 straight, only to see the Panthers stage their own 2-goal comeback. The Panthers scored first when veteran Gary Roberts happened to be in the
right spot at the right time when the puck hit Olli Jokinen behind the goal and
it came right in front to a wide open Roberts. Marty Biron, playing for the
injured Ryan Miller, had no chance on that shot. In the second period, Vanek had a breakaway and was hooked by Florida
defenseman Mike Van Ryn. Vanek was awarded a penalty shot, but because he was
winded from his last rush up the ice, he didn’t get much on his shot and Auld
had no trouble stopping it. Right after that, when play resumed, Ruslan Salei
took a pass right out of penalty box and scored on Biron, putting the Panthers
up 2-0. Vanek got the Sabres on the board a few minutes later in the second period
when he blasted one top shelf past Panthers goalie Alex Auld. Buffalo scored 3
more consecutive goals by Brian Campbell, Paul Gaustad and Ales Kotalik. But
then the Panthers tied it up and that led to the overtime goal by Vanek. The two coaches saw the outcome differently, as could be expected. "We battled hard but didn't get the breaks,'' said Florida coach Jacques
Martin. "We came back hard but there were a couple of instances where the
puck didn't go our way. I thought we battled hard, but it's tough to lose and
have to kill off a penalty in overtime." "I thought we showed a lot of jam again," beamed Sabres coach Lindy
Ruff. "Down, 2-0, we started to roll. I liked the way we skated. I thought
we fought our way back, and it was a big win for our team." INJURY BUG CONTINUES The Sabres now have their top player on offense, defense and in goal on the
injury list. Ryan Miller joined the Sabres *MASH* crew on Friday when it was
revealed that he had a back injury. No problem! Lindy Ruff inserted Biron who
remained undefeated after he helped the Sabres win in overtime. Biron did look a
little shaky on a couple of the goals, but mostly he was solid in the nets.
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Thomas Vanek, who was denied when he had a penalty shot, scored right after that
and the overtime winner just 19 seconds into the sudden death. The Sabres now
have won 13 and lost only one in regulation.
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