Leafs blow past Sabres in overtime 3-2
By Rick Anderson
Tuesday, December 7

Michael Peca's woes continue. In a highly electrifying game, the Toronto Maple Leafs stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the second period. The Leafs then won the game 3-2 in overtime when Peca had a dead giveaway behind his own net.

"It's a good feeling to be able to come back from two goals and go on to win," said the Leafs' Kris King. "Buffalo came out skating, won the battles in the corners and took control. But we were able to regroup and give it back to them."

Peca in his desperation pass from behind his own net in overtime was picked off by Steve Thomas. Thomas, who had taken a penalty near the end of the third period, raced out in front of Dwayne Roloson in the slot and beat him with a wrist shot over his left shoulder to end this highly entertaining game at 1:05 into overtime. It was Thomas' 10th career regular-season overtime winner, and fourth goal of the season.

The Leafs celebrate after overtime goal by Steve Thomas

"I knew Roloson wasn't expecting me to get the puck at all," an elated Thomas said. "I came around the side of the net where he wasn't. I don't think he even saw me when I came out and I did fan on the shot. Thank God it went in."

"I didn't get a good piece of it," said Peca. "That's a sad result. It's very frustrating, especially when we did play hard enough to win."

When asked if that tied the NHL record, Thomas replied, "Yeah, check the press notes they give you before games. I was tied with Mario Lemieux. I'm finally in the record books after 17 years in the league."

The Peca giveaway came at the worst possible time and continues a long string of mistakes the Sabres captain has made near the end of a game recently. Peca's misfortunes have been the hot topic of articles and sports talk show discussions the past few days. A lot of people are saying the ‘C' should be given to someone else on the team. Others are demanding that he get benched. Lindy Ruff, who was benched when he was captain of the Sabres, doesn't want his captain to go through the same hell he had to experience. Thus, Ruff is giving Peca an extra long rope and may never bench him.

"Somebody was yelling and I didn't think it was (Thomas)," said Peca. "It's a sign of the way things are going for me right now."

"I think he just panicked at the last second," Ruff said. "I think when things are going bad, you're going to see that happen."

"I knew the puck was bouncing," Peca said. "I knew they would come at me, and I had to fire it around. I just didn't get a good piece of it. That's the way things have been going for me lately. It's really tough for that to happen."

The Sabres looked like they were going to run the Leafs out of their own building when the game first started. They picked up right where they left off back in June when they beat the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference Finals as they scored in two goals in rapid fire on Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph. With just 42 seconds gone on the clock, Miroslav Satan got a great feed from Michal Grosek right in front of the net and he put it past the startled CuJo. Then with only 4:10 gone, Dixon Ward got stole the puck from Cory Cross and blasted the puck from between the two circles past Joseph to put the Sabres to a surprising 2-0 lead. That goal was unassisted.

"Our defense was very slow in moving the puck," said Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "They seem to be over-handling it."

Curtis Joseph knocks away the puck after stopping a Stu Barnes shot

The Sabres kept the pressure on the Leafs for most of the first period, outshooting them 12-6. The Sabres were buzzing around Joseph for at least half the period, but CuJo kept the Leafs in the game by making some outstanding saves. Dwayne Roloson started his second straight game and had to come up big on a blast by Dmitri Khristich in the first period.

Sabres fans had to know that Buffalo couldn't keep up that kind of pressure on CuJo all night and in the second period, the Leafs stormed back with two goals to tie it up. Gary Valk got one past a screen Roloson when he flipped it top shelf at 3:13 of the period to break the ice for the Leafs. Then with Tie Domi and Alexei Zhitnik tying each other up right in front of Roloson, Tomas Kaberle, stationed at the left point, scored on a wrist shot that also got in up high on Rollie the Goalie and the game was deadlocked at 2. Roloson never caught even a glimpse of the puck as it flew past him with Domi and Zhitnik blocking his view. "It's always nice when you get a goal, especially a tying goal," said Kaberle. The Sabres had a golden opportunity to win this game at the very end of the third period when Thomas took a boarding penalty on Vaclav Varada with only 1:29 left in regulation. With the clock running down, Varada almost won it when he got a pass while right in front of Joseph, but he couldn't handle it and the teams headed into overtime. The Sabres had 31 seconds left in the powerplay in the sudden death stanza, but like on their other 6 man advantages, could not connect.

"It was a very undisciplined penalty," said Thomas about taking a hit on Varada so late in the game. "There's was a little rivalry involved throughout the playoffs. . . . Last year they all knew I had hurt my shoulder. I'd pass the puck and four or five seconds later they'd run me. He (Varada) was one of those guys." Joseph made 28 saves in the game and was most impressive in the first period when he kept the Sabres only to two goals. It could have been a lot worse. Roloson made 19 saves and was helpless to stop any of the pucks that got past him. His impressive play should give him the start on Wednesday against Ottawa.

Lindy Ruff has been trying to get the message across to all his players that they have to work hard and play desperate if they want to start winning games. Nobody seemed to be listening. That is not until tonight. One player who definitely got the message was Vaclav Varada, who sat out the past two game. He got his chance to prove his merit tonight, and he came out with a vengeance. Varada was a one-man wrecking machine last night as he was hitting everything wearing blue and white. During one shift in the second period, he delivered three devastating checks in a matter of 12 seconds. Varada was doing everything that Ruff has been harping on him to do for the past year. He was charging the crease and causing plenty of traffic in front of Joseph. Varada was sacrificing his body in order to make something happen. One time he charged into the crease, was knocked down and got a skate right below his left eye. He skated back to the bench, got taped up and came right back to deliver some more punishment.

The Sabres looked impressive in the first period and did seem to have a lot more jump on the puck than they've had the past few games. Their powerplay needs to a jump start as the battery is completely dead. The Sabres continue to try to set up the picture perfect play and do not drive to the net when they have the man advantage. The players keep passing the puck around the perimeter, wasting valuable time when they should be shooting it and crashing the goalie.

"I think all in all it was a step in the right direction," said Rhett Warrener. "It was a game that we worked hard and I think if we got a couple bounces we get a win. The guys played hard and we've got to continue to do that."

"We worked pretty hard and played a lot better," said Sanderson. "We generated a lot of shots. It's disappointing we can't get over that barrier. There is no cohesion out there. There are five guys who are on different programs. That's where things break down."

"That's the most disappointing thing," Jason Woolley countered. "We had the lead. Each guy played very hard. We were playing with a lot of desperation."

The Sabres try to right their sinking ship tomorrow night at home against the Ottawa Senators.

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