Sabres win in Philly again
By Rick Anderson
March 31, 2002

Sabres goalie Martin Biron prepares to catch the pop-up fly that was hit by Flyers' Adam Oates while Sabres defenseman Dmitri Klinin closes in. Biron made 19 saves in the third period to shut down the Flyers as Buffalo won 3-1.

[AP Photo/Chris Gardner]

The Buffalo Sabres walked into Philadelphia minus two of their toughest players. They walked out of Philly with yet another victory over the Flyers as they came from behind and defeated the Flyers 3-1.

With Rob Ray and Rhett Warrener serving suspensions, the Sabres put forth one of their best efforts this season to defeat the bigger and tougher Flyers. Richard Smehlik, coming back from an injury, scored the winning goal 16:29 of the second stanza when he got into the slot area and one-timed a shot that went in off a Philly defender.

One of the biggest stories of this game was the dominance of Sabres goalie Martin Biron. Biron has been struggling as of late and was winless in his last 5 starts. Biron made 28 saves in the game and settled down after giving up the first goal. In the third period, he was absolutely sensational, stopping 19 shots as the Flyers buzzed around him the whole period. John LeClair actually got the puck behind him with 39.4 ticks remaining on the clock, but it was ruled no goal as the play was whistled dead.

"We need fabulous goaltending and I thought we got it especially in the third period tonight," lauded Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

The Flyers got on the board first when a big giveaway resulted in a 2-on-1 into the Sabres zone. Ruslan Fedotenko got a pass from Simon Gagne to the right of Biron and the Sabres goalie had already committed on the play. He had no trouble firing it into the open net at the 2 minute mark of the second period. From that point on, Biron shut the door on the Flyers.

Miroslav Satan, who has been hot as of late, recorded his 30th goal of the season when he pounced on a rebound and got it past Flyer goalie Brian Boucher at the 8:56 mark of the stanza. Then came Smehlik’s winner a bit later and Chris Gratton once again haunted his former team by scoring 12 ticks into the final period.

Once again, the Sabres proved they could skate with the best of them, but that team has shown up for less than half the season. The win barely keeps the Sabres playoff pulse beating. They remain 5 points out of the final playoff spot with 7 games left. While it is mathematically possible to get into the playoffs, the life support may have to be pulled soon.

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Gratton, who almost single-handedly beat the Flyers last spring in the first round of the playoffs, always gets pumped up playing against his former team.

"We made a point of getting in deep and keeping our legs moving," said Gratton. "They are a big team and they play physical, and we did not want to give them anything in our zone. It was a big two points for us to get back into the playoff race."

Ruff knows that he has his work cut out for him, yet he’ll take the points and hope his team can beat the Flyers again Monday night in Buffalo.

"Our team is fighting for its playoff life,” said Ruff. We set the tone in the first 40 minutes and we didn't back off even when we spent most of the third period in our own end."

Smehlik, who was on the sidelines for 14 games with an injured shoulder, was rusty at the start, but finally found his legs, and his shot.

"I was kind of tired at the beginning," admitted Smehlik. "I just wanted to get my timing back. Once the game wore on I felt better. When you come back after all that time off and score a game-winning goal it helps you get your confidence back."

The Flyers blew a chance to tie the Boston Bruins for first in the East.

"We want to get first place in the conference and we are a team that relies on energy," announced Mark Recchi. "For whatever reason, we haven't had the energy to get it done. We didn't have it in Carolina and we didn't have it tonight."

Boucher, who has been manning the pipes until Roman Cechmanek comes back from a sprained ankle, was upset with the effort in front of him.

"We certainly didn't give a good effort our first two periods," Boucher said. "The third period we tried to give it everything but it was too little too late. We weren't ready to play and we got hurt."

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