The Buffalo Sabres opened their 1999-2000 regular season against the Detroit Red Wings with five players out of the lineup. They left Hockey Town with not only a 2-0 loss, but had another defenseman go down with an injury. That really hurt their severely depleted defensive corp last night, which was patched together with rookies and Rochester mainstays. Jason Holland was added to the injury list with a bruised shoulder which he suffered in the second period and now that leaves Sabres coach Lindy Ruff pleading with general manager Darcy Regier to sign defensive duo Rhett Warrener and Jay McKee ASAP.

Kris Draper is squished between Buffalo's Erik Rasmussen, right, and Jason Wooley.

Going into last night's game, no one could really expect the Sabres to keep up with the talent-laden Red Wings considering the huge hole in the Buffalo lineup with the 4 holdouts and Alexei Zhitnik's shoulder injury. Ruff pieced together a blueline corp of Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (who was the fourth-most experienced defenseman in the lineup) along with rookies Holland and Brian Campbell to go along with veterans Jason Woolley, Richard Smehlik, and James Patrick. As the game turned out, it was a wonder that the score was kept as close as it was. Dominik Hasek was the reason for Detroit not scoring at least 6 in this one.

With Hasek nursing his groin injury and recovering from a hernia operation during training camp, the big question was whether he would be 100% for the season opener. But the Dominator put all fears to rest as he handled 42 of 44 shots and looked quick as a cat in doing so. He was put to the test early as the Red Wings peppered him with 19 shots in the first period.

The Sabres had a few chances in the first period, the best being Geoff Sanderson going in on Chris Osgood and missing with his shot (the Sandman is back in regular season form). Domenic Pittis had a chance but also missed the net and Erik Rasmussen was stonewalled by Osgood.

At the end of the period, Chris Draper led a 2 on 1 break on Hasek. Woolley played him on his right side but Draper made a nice move around him and his initial shot from the right circle was stopped by Hasek. With Grand-Pierre getting back into the play, Draper beat him to the puck and flipped it past both the falling Grand-Pierre and Hasek to break the scoreless tie at the 18:57 mark.

"I took it in and then I hit Hasek's pad," Draper recounted the play. "It came right back to me, and I put it in. It's good to chip in with a big win in our home opener."

"The first fifteen minutes we had five good chances and they had one," Ruff said. "They are a damned good hockey team and they're going to score on you." A quarter of the way through the second period, the Red Wings won the faceoff and Steve Duchesne got the puck near the blue line. He quickly fired a smoker towards Hasek, but it was tipped in mid-air by Tomas Holmstrom and the puck got past the astounded Hasek into the top corner at the 5:15 mark.

The Sabres did not get too many opportunities on Osgood after the first period, as the Detroit netminder only faced 22 shots, and 12 of them were in the last two periods. What good chances the Sabres did have, Osgood was up to the task. This was the first time since 1976 that the Buffalo Sabres opened the season getting shutout. It was another Red Wing team that beat them 4-0 back then.

"We're happy with the way we played tonight," Osgood said. "It was a good start for us. I enjoy playing against him (Hasek). He's fun to play against and he's fun to watch. You know you can't give up many goals, so it's a challenge."

"Both goaltenders played extremely well," Ruff said after the game. "Maybe the fans realized this was the last time they'll see him in this building. I thought it was a classy act."

At the start, when Hasek was introduced to the sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena, he wasn't sure if they were booing or cheering him.

"I'm glad to hear it was cheering," the Dominator said. "That was very nice. Before the game, I was thinking of this being my last game in this great building,. We don't come in here that much, but I know there has been a lot of history in this place."

Campbell, the OHL player of the year last season, handled himself with poise and also delivered some solid hits as the game progressed. One of the raps on him was his lack of physical play and his offensive-oriented game often cost his team defensively. That was not the case last night as he seemed to take the body quite well and was not caught out of position. However, Grand-Pierre could not say the same. The second-year prospect was caught in the wrong spot on several occasions, the most flagrant one resulted in Detroit's first goal. On that one, he raced back to catch up with Draper and dove towards the puck instead of trying to take out the Detroit forward in front of the net. This probably being his greatest chance to impress on the Sabres coaching staff that he belongs here, Jean-Luc didn't do that last night. With so many defensemen out, Grand-Pierre had a golden opportunity to use his physical presence and his speed to his advantage. What he displayed was far short of capabilities.

Ruff originally was going to use Campbell on the powerplay for the most part to use his offensive skills. When Holland bruised his left shoulder, Ruff was forced to put Campbell out there as a regular.

"You can just add it all up," said Ruff. "It's his first game. It's in Detroit, and there are nine or ten guys over there that are perennial all-stars. I though he held himself in there."

The Sabres have almost a week to rest their wounded and get the rest of their free agents on board as their next game will be at home on Friday against Washington.