It's a day at the beach for the Sabres
By Rick Anderson
January 18, 2000

Maybe it was the walk on the beach that Lindy Ruff had with his team instead of having a practice the day of the game. Or maybe it was the tirade he had during his post game conference following Friday night's disappointing 2-1 loss to Montreal when he said some players needed to be traded. Then again, it could have been all the negative press the Sabres were getting lately. Whatever it was, the Buffalo Sabres came out and played a solid 60 minutes of hockey and completely dethrottled the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 5-0.

Stu Barnes gets past Anaheim's Jeff Nielsen in Sabres 5-0 blowout of the Mighty Ducks

"We're trying to get back to what was successful," Lindy Ruff said. "We played a pretty tight game. It was a real solid effort. We came out in the second period and basically dominated."

Sabres' rookie goalie Martin Biron posted his 4th shutout of the season, which ties him for the league lead in that department. Biron had a pretty easy time of it as he had to make only 17 saves. It was Biron's second straight road shutout.

"(The Ducks) had a guy in the crease a lot tonight," Biron said. "They were trying to block my view. Everybody did their job pretty much. Anybody could have been in the net tonight."

The rest of the squad stepped it up about six notches over their past two games when they scored a grand total of 1 goal. One of the biggest surprises was that Vaclav Varada actually scored a goal. To making it even more astonishing was the fact that he scored two of them! After going 25 games without scoring one goal, Varada finally broke the hex which has plagued him all season. Before Monday night's late game, he had only scored once before, on November 10 against the Boston Bruins.

"I don't score often, so to get two goals is outstanding," Varada said. "It's good to contribute. It's tough to stay positive when you're struggling. I know my role but you want to chip in sometimes. It's nice to get it behind me. I just want to keep it going."

Another extraordinary thing happened in this game. Buffalo scored a power-play goal. Not only did they score a goal with a man advantage, but it was their fifth straight power-play goal! Curtis Brown did the honors by scoring that goal just 21 seconds into the second period breaking the scoreless tie. It was Brown's 15th of the season.

Varada wasn't the only embattled Sabre to get out of a long slump. Dixon Ward, who's been rumored to be on the trading block, also netted his first goal in ages. Ward shot a slap shot from the top of the right circle and put it past Dominic Roussel for his fifth of the season with 2:43 remaining in the second.

"One game isn't anything but it is a start," said Ward. "It's a lesson learned by us on how we need to approach the game."

Since Ward broke the ice, Varada decided it was his turn to get out of his season-long funk by netting one with only 34 ticks left on the clock in the second period. Then at the halfway mark of the third period, Varada went down the ice on a two-on-one with Michael Peca. Peca passed it to Varada and Vaclav's got past Roussel making it 4-0 Sabres.

With the Sabres playing shorthanded near the end of the game, Miroslav Satan got the puck and beat both Roussel with his wraparound, but also the clock as there was only one second left in the game. It was Miro's 23rd of the season which leads all Sabres.

The Sabres were outshot in the first period, 7-4 but came out and blistered Roussel with 15 shots in the second stanza and 12 in the third. The Mighty Ducks biggest threats, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne were held in check all night by the Sabres.

The Sabres who have been very inconsistent all season long with their scoring, finally got a consistent effort from players who have been absent for much of the year.

"It was good to see a couple of chances go in," said Ruff. "We definitely earned our breaks. Every team has a tough night. They came out a little flat -- I don't know why -- and we took advantage of it."

Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg was repeating words in which Ruff has uttered all too often this year. "Tonight was an embarrassing effort by our hockey team," Hartsburg said. "There are no excuses. There is nowhere to hide. I was very disappointed in the effort and intensity."

"The job we did through the neutral zone tonight was really outstanding," said Ruff. "We got great goaltending again from our rookie. It was good to see a couple of chances go in. We definitely earned our breaks tonight."

The Sabres continue their west coast trip with a game Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Kings. Former Sabre Donald Audette has been scratched from the lineup and will not get a chance to score on his former team.

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