Hasek gets his first shutout of season as Sabres beat Avs 2-0
By Rick Anderson
February 9, 2000

Dominik Hasek claims it was one of his easiest shutouts. It also was one of the latest shutouts he's ever posted since becoming a starting goaltender. Either way, both he and the Buffalo Sabres will take their 2-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche with no qualms. The Sabres may have found another team that they would like to play more often. They seem to have their way with both the Avs and the Ottawa Senators as of late. The last time they played the Avalanche, they beat them in Buffalo 2-1.

Patrick Roy gives Brian Holzinger a piece of the mitt to keep the ‘Zinger out of his territorty

After having to cancel his All-Star outing and last Thursday's game against the Senators, Hasek was a huge question mark for this game. Hasek was in extreme pain after performing Gumby-like stunts in his first start in three months last Tuesday when the Sabres battled the Mighty Ducks to a 2-2 tie. He even said last Thursday that he was unsure how often he would be able to play because of his groin injury. But the Dominator was between the pipes for the 9 PM start for this contest in Denver.

Hasek had a pretty easy time of it against the Avs, as he had to make only 24 saves to record probably the latest shutout he's ever had in the regular season since becoming a starting goalie. In shutting down the Avalanche shooters for the third time in his career (all in Denver), the Dominator posted only his second victory of the season. The first came all the way back on October 27 against Tampa Bay, which was the game before his groin injury. Hasek claims this shutout was one of the easiest he's ever had.

"I feel better than I did last week after my first game back," Hasek said. "The reason I feel better is because it was a pretty easy game for me. My teammates did a great job. It was one of the easiest shutouts I ever had."

It will be known later on today how Hasek came out of that game and if he has any pain in the groin area like he did after last week's game. His groin was not severely tested like it was against the Ducks, where he had to make several acrobatic saves.

"I was a little tired tonight because of the altitude but I think they had only three or four good scoring chances and two of those my teammates blocked," Hasek said.

The Sabres were given ample opportunity to make their power play work in the first period as they were given the man advantage for most of the period. It started when Aaron Miller was given a double minor for high sticking Erik Rasmussen and Alexei Gusarov was tagged with cross checking with 45 seconds left in Miller's last penalty. Patrick Roy came up and made some great stops, especially on Miroslav Satan.

The Avs came out of that extended shorthanded stretch and got a power play of their own when Alexei Zhitnik got a holding the stick penalty. Satan picked up a loose puck around the red line and stormed in on Roy. He let a long shot go from 30 feet out in the slot area and somehow it went five-hole between Roy's open legs and into the net. The goal came at the 13:41 mark of the period and was Satan's 27th of the season. It was also the only goal recorded on the power play by each team Tuesday, and it came shorthanded.

Brian Rolston was the Avalanche who could not control the puck at center ice and Satan took full advantage of it.

"He lost the puck and I put a shot on net," Satan said. "I was lucky to get it in because I was so far away. It was a shorthanded situation so I didn't want to risk a turnover. (Defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh) was trying to step away so Roy could see it. I don't know what happened, if he saw it or it was too quick for him."

The Sabres completely dominated the first period, thanks to playing much of the period with the man advantage. They outshot the Avalanche 13-8. But in the second period, Colorado came out with guns a blazing. They outshot the Sabres 8-2 in the middle stanza. Stu Barnes got called for holding the stick at the 3 minute mark, and the defense stepped up and killed that penalty. Then Zhitnik got another penalty at 7:14 of the second period, and Hasek and crew continued to keep the Avalanche off the score sheet. Jay McKee got a cross-checking penalty with two minutes remaining and once again the Sabres penalty killers played solid in front of Hasek. In all, Colorado went 0 for 5 and seemed to have trouble getting any real pressure on the Dominator.

"Once you kill off four or five, I think we had them a little rattled," said Lindy Ruff. "The crowd was on them a little bit, and I think that helped."

With only four minutes remaining in the third period, Curtis Brown got the puck away from Milan Hejduk at the Avalanche blue line and gave it to Satan. Satan dropped a pass back to Dixon Ward, who suddenly cut directly in front of the net and sent a backhander past Roy to make it 2-0. It was Ward's first tally since January 17 and his sixth of the season.

"I looked up and saw that I had some room," said Ward. "I just wanted to cross the net and see what happened. I just tried to beat him quick before he could spread out and stop it."

The Sabres must have felt at home in Colorado's new arena. They practice at the Pepsi Center in Amherst and then flew into Denver to play their first game in Colorado's Pepsi Center. But it doesn't seem to make too much difference where they play in Mile High City, just so they can get some halfway decent ice. The Avalanche, before Buffalo ended their streak, had a 12-game unbeaten streak going. Also, the Sabres snapped their four-game road losing streak in the process.

"This was big for us," said Satan. "Time is running out for us. We had to have this one with four teams playing for the last playoff spot."

The Avalanche must be psyched out every time the Sabres come to town. Last December it was Biron who shut them down. Tuesday, it was Hasek and the trap-like game the Sabres employed.

"They scored first and then clogged up the neutral zone," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "We had a few chances, but Hasek was sprawling everywhere, like usual. He was finding ways to stop the puck.

"Hasek saw everything, and their defensemen were outstanding. They cleared the front of the net, played simply and frustrated us by flipping the puck out of the zone all game long."

Although Hasek wasn't tested nearly as much as he was last week against Anaheim, the jury is still out on how much he will be able to contribute to the Sabres the rest of the season. It all depends on his infamous groin. Like last week, Hasek seemed to be OK right after the game. It was the two days following the strenuous exercise he had in real game action that stiffness and soreness developed. From the early prognosis, Hasek should be able to start either the game Thursday night in Nashville and/or the game on Saturday in Philadelphia. It all depends on how he feels the next two days and whether Sabres' coach Lindy Ruff wants to ease him slowly into the heat of the battle.

Dominik Hasek was in top form in recording shutout against the Avalanche

In the two games that Hasek has played, he has performed at the top of his ability with little regard to any pain he might have been experiencing.

"You don't think about shutouts before the game, but of course, when you see it's like six or seven minutes left, you start thinking about it," Hasek said. "I didn't count their chances but I don't think they had more than five chances the whole game."

"Dominik did what he had to do tonight," said Ward. "It doesn't look like he missed a beat."

Meanwhile, Sabres' General Manager Darcy Regier did admit that there were talks with the Los Angeles Kings involving Hasek, but the talks did not have anything to do with a possible trade.

"No, we did not have trade talks," said Regier about his recent conversation with Kings' General Manager Dave Taylor. "Nor did I initiate the conversation. I did not call him. What I told him is the same thing I'll tell you. We're not doing anything regarding Dominik Hasek at this time."

Translation: Taylor did call Regier inquiring about the possibility getting Hasek. Regier is using his GM twang to diffuse a possible explosive issue.

"I understand there's some uncertainty regarding Dom's situation, but the essential factors haven't changed," Regier continued. "We're operating under the assumption that Dom is committed to this season and that his plans are to retire after this season. He has not informed us otherwise."

The Sabres GM has had discussions with his No. 1 goalie about his future with the team and hockey in general. However, Hasek has yet to make a decision regarding the possibility of playing next year. Until he does that, Hasek will continue to be a huge question mark for the Sabres. He has got to let the team know of his intentions before the March trading deadline.

The Sabres travel to Nashville for Thursday's game and hope to gain another important two points so they can move up towards that final eighth playoff position.

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