Dominik Hasek made up his mind during the pre-game warmup that he was ready to play and the Leafs knew they had their work cut out for them. After five days of controversy brought to the forefront by a WGR sports talk host, Hasek decided to give it a try and spark the Sabres. The Leafs opened the game by scoring first on a goal by Yanic Perreault who flipped it over Dominik's left shoulder into the net. It was a perfect shot, but Hasek did go down on his knees a little early.
Buffalo came on strong in the second period scoring three goals. Miro Satan broke the ice for the Sabres by stealing the puck near the faceoff circle and waltzing all alone in front of Curtis Joseph. He shot the puck under a sprawling Joseph's pads and into the net. Buffalo made it 2-1 when Mike Peca stole the puck when the Sabres were shorthanded and led a rush up the ice. He shot it on Joseph, who stopped it, but a huge rebound went to Joe Juneau who had a wide open net to shoot at.. He didn't miss. Stu Barnes got another powerplay goal a short while after, making it his fourth goal in three games. It also extended the Sabres powerplay scoring streak to 13 straight games!. These three unanswered goals were scored in 4 ½ minutes, which shows what a frenzy the Sabres put on around CuJo. However, the Leafs scored on a fluky play while they had a man advantage. Hasek had lost his stick and Richard Smehlik picked it up and was handing it to Hasek when a shot by Karpovtsev went through, hit Smehlik's pad, and deflected off the stick he was handing back to Hasek and into the net! Smehlik had interfered with Hasek's concentration and also accidently put it into his own net.
The Leafs pulled Joseph with a minute before the game, but the Sabres were the ones who scored when Curtis Brown scored into the empty net. With only a 13 seconds remaining in the game, Tie Domi did it again! As the Sabres touched the puck for an icing, Domi ran into Hasek while he was down and that touched off a near riot. This is the second game in a row that Domi tried his cheap antics. Maybe Ruff will dress both Ray and Kruse on Saturday just to take Domi out.
Mike Peca was back in form, and he made the biggest hit of the season when he came out of the penalty box and blind sided Domi. Domi was looking around to see what hit him and was dazed and confused. He didn't even know that it was a Mac truck called Peca.
Dominik Hasek looked a little tentative in the first period. He only faced three shots, and one got through him. But as he got more action, he seemed to become more comfortable. A couple times he had to do a couple splits and stretch the infamous groin. The Maple Leafs were taking liberties on Hasek all night, but that last cheap shot by Domi has to be addressed. In the third period, Hasek made some superlative saves, looking like the Dominator of old. Those were saves that no other goalie on the planet could make. Hasek may be only 80%, but that's better than most goalies that ever lived!
Hasek's back, Satan's back and the Sabres desire to win is back. Here's My View From the Cheap Seats for game three of this QEW rivalry.
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First Period
Second Period
Third Period SHOTS ON GOAL
Power-play Conversions: Tor - 1 of 4, Buf - 1 of 7. Goalies: Toronto,
Joseph (23 shots, 20 saves; record: 9-6-0). Buffalo, Hasek (26, 24;
record: 9-2-0), Roloson (19:47 of 3rd period, 0, 0). A:18,595. Referees:
Fraser, S Walkom. Linesmen: Broseker, Schachte.
1. Miroslav Satan - What ankle injury? Tonight, Miro had a goal, set up Brown's empty-netter to clinch the game and made a few good hits out there, deserving the #1 Sword of the game.
2. Stu Barnes - Who is this guy and where did he come from? He scored yet another goal, worked the power play and won alot of key face-offs for the Sabres
3. Dominik Hasek - He only stopped 26 shots but the he took alot of the pushes and shoves from the Leafs as well.
HONORABLE MENTION, Mike Peca - Too bad I only give out three swords but I had to give credit to Mike Peca who kept Sundin in check, set up Juneau's goal, made some good rushes up the ice and leveled Tie Domi as he came out of the penalty box in the third period.
He had something to prove! His ears were ringing all week long. People were cursing him, calling him a quitter, saying that he only cared for himself. A certain ex-Bills coach was having a hey day turning the screws, making him look like the a traitor, a person who couldn't suck it up and play with pain. Well, look who's laughing now! He was instrumental in Buffalo's 4-2 victory in Game 3 over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Buffalo now leads the series 2 games to one.
See Satan's first goal back from his injury
MY VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Daniel Salfin, Prospects Editor-In-Chief
Thursday, May 27, 1999
Buffalo 4, Toronto 2
1st
2nd
3rd
TOTAL
Toronto
1
1
0
2
Buffalo
0
3
1
4
Scoring: 1, Toronto, Perreault 3 (Valk, Kaberle), 16:08.
Penalties: S Berezin, Tor (Obstr hooking), 9:29; Perreault, Tor (cross checking), 11:19.
Scoring: 2, Buffalo, Satan 3 (unassisted), 3:07. 3, Buffalo, Juneau 3 (shorthanded) (Peca), 3:45. 4, Buffalo, Barnes 4 (power play) (B Holzinger, Zhitnik), 7:38. 5, Toronto, Karpovtsev 1 (power play) (unassisted), 13:09. Penalties: Patrick, Buf (Obstr hooking), 3:29; Sundin, Tor (Obstr holding), 6:56; Zhitnik, Buf (interference), 11:54;
Sundin, Tor (Obstr tripping), 16:48; Thomas, Tor (slashing), 20:00.
Scoring: 6, Buffalo, Brown 6 (empty net) (Satan, Mckee), 19:31. Penalties: Sullivan, Tor (roughing), 4:05; Grosek, Buf
(interference, roughing), 4:05; Peca, Buf (Obstr holding), 10:35; K King, Tor (roughing), 13:03; Domi, Tor (roughing), 13:03; Varada, Buf (roughing), 13:03; Domi, Tor (goalie interference, double roughing minor,
misconduct), 19:47; K King, Tor (misconduct), 19:47; Adams, Tor (misconduct), 19:47; Markov, Tor (misconduct), 19:47; Yushkevich, Tor
(misconduct), 19:47; Rasmussen, Buf (misconduct), 19:47; R Warrener, Buf (misconduct), 19:47; Grosek, Buf (misconduct), 19:47; B Holzinger, Buf
(misconduct), 19:47; Mckee, Buf (misconduct), 19:47; Perreault, Tor (double roughing minor), 19:56; Zhitnik, Buf (roughing), 19:56.
Toronto
3
11
12
--26
7
11
6
--24
Sabre Sword's 3 Stars Swords of the Game
