Sabres limp home after horrific road trip
By Rick Anderson
January 22, 2000
The Boo Birds are practicing right now! The Buffalo Sabres are coming back home after a horrendous road trip which ended Saturday afternoon with a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Sabres now play four of the next five at soon to be called HSBC Arena. The Boo Birds better get their vocal chords in shape because they will have lots of chances to voice their displeasure as the Sabres limp back onto home ice.
"Three weeks ago, we thought we were in a slump," said James Patrick. "We've done nothing to get out of it. Obviously, things are worse."
Once again in this game, the Sabres came out flying. Once again, they had lots of scoring opportunities that they couldn't capitalize on. Once again the Sabres failed to overpower a weakened opponent that has been slumping all year. The Hurricanes were in the midst of a five-game losing streak. They have been without Keith Primeau all season as he's in a contract dispute and may be traded any day now. Just like with the LA Kings, the Sabres gave a slumping opponent new life.
After the two teams played to a scoreless first period, the Sabres started taking penalties and that cost them as the Hurricanes scored two straight powerplay goals in the second period. Ron Francis opened the scoring when he notched his 13th of the season with 12:44 gone by in the second. Like the opening goal in the game against Phoenix, Martin Biron allowed the opening goal from a bad angle. Francis shot came from a sharp angle with Erik Rasmussen in the penalty box and the puck slid under Biron's stick and pads to put the Hurricanes up 1-0. The Sabres had been pressing until then, but one could see the air go out of their sails after Francis' goal.
The Hurricanes went back on the power play shortly after and Sami Kapanen got a nice feed from Francis and flipped a backhand over Biron's left shoulder, making it 2-0. The way the Sabres have been scoring lately, it was over right then. Kapanen's 18th of the season came just 1:31 after the Francis goal.
"The goals took the wind right out of us," lamented Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. "That's when we have to hunker down, when our leaders have to say, "I want to play.' Nobody is going to feel sorry for us."
"You can't really criticize positioning or anything on the first goal," Ruff continued. "The second goal, they made a great play and there was a hell of a shot. After that, we seemed to die a little."
"Die a little" is an understatement. The Sabres seemed to have mentally boarded their jet plane home right after the first goal. The players on this team just can't keep their heads in the game for twenty minutes this season, let alone be focused an entire game.
In the third period, the game turned into the Gary Roberts show. Roberts scored his 10th of the season 7:53 into the period, putting the Hurricanes up 3-0. Roberts lit the lamp for the second time and got Carolina's third power-play goal of the game when he beat Biron 3 minutes and 20 seconds later.
Michael Peca broke the shutout bid of Arturs Irbe with only 78 seconds remaining. Peca skated in on Irbe and let loose with a wrist shot that got though for only the 7th goal of the season for the Sabres captain.
"I thought that we hit rock bottom (before the road trip)," Ruff said. "But if you look at the road trip and the end of it, we took another layer off of rock bottom."
The Sabres outshot the Hurricanes 22-17 and Irbe made some sensational saves to keep the Sabres from scoring until the last minute. Meanwhile, Biron continues to struggle in the nets. Four goals on 17 shots is unacceptable. Dominik Hasek used to face that many in a period. Biron may be fatigued after the long flights and the many delays the team encountered on their trip.
"We didn't do anything fancy," said Hurricanes' center Jeff O'Neill. "We did the little things, and when you're struggling, that's what gets you a couple of victories."
Ron Francis has been around the league for a long time. He started Carolina's scoring binge and assisted on the second goal. The team's captain provided that spark that the Hurricanes needed, something that the Sabres have been missing all year.
"That's the difference between very good players and guys who will be in the Hall of Fame," said Carolina coach Paul Maurice about Ron Francis. "Regardless of how tired they are or how frustrated they are with the situation surrounding them, they come out and play their best when you need them to,"
After going 3-for-28 over the previous seven games, the Hurricanes equaled their previous high mark of 3 power-plays in a game. The Sabres, who had been one of the better teams in the NHL at killing penalties, now are being burnt on a regular basis.
The Sabres are being taught valuable lessons about team attitude and what it takes to get the job done. Unfortunately, the players are not paying attention. There's a lot they could learn about drive and team spirit from the Hurricanes' play Saturday.
"This is one of these games where everybody goes home feeling good about contributing and now we just have to continue this way," said Gary Roberts.
"Our leaders were our best players," Jeff O'Neill talked about Francis and Roberts. "That's why they get paid what they do, and when it comes down to it those are the guys who are going to bring you out of a slump."
The so-called leaders of the Sabres better take note! Peca, the Sabres' captain, finally scored a goal and hopefully the monkey will be off his back. Part of his job is to lead by example, and the other part is to help get the players' heads on the same page. None of that has happened this year. Then there's Michal Grosek, Alexei Zhitnik, Rhett Warrener, Dixon Ward and everyone else for that matter. None of the members of the team formerly known as the hardest working team in hockey has any spunk or drive any more. Game after game, they come out with flat performances.
"We didn't get any lower than we were before (the road trip)," said Peca. "We just have the same rocks falling on our heads. All you can do is hold on the umbrella strong and wait until we battle out of it."
"It's going to get harder," Ward said. "We have to dig our way out. Nobody is going to do it for us. It's do-or-die, playoff hockey from here on out. There are no nights off or excuses. We have to get it done or we're going to be on the outside looking in when it's over."
The Sabres now return home to face the hordes of Boo Birds when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. After being booed out of their arena their last three games, the Sabres had better pick up their game or the birds will be out in full force Tuesday night.
Watch Video of Sami Kapanen's goal
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The Sabres had hoped to come back to Buffalo with six points in hand. As it was, they returned from their western swing with only two and plenty of questions to answer. The loss to the Hurricanes was their third straight and hopes for making the playoffs are fading faster than the sun over Phoenix. Buffalo is now in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, six games below .500. Since the turn of the new century, the Sabres are 3-7-1 and are on pace to finish dead last in the Northeast. Carolina was a point behind the Sabres in the playoff race before the game. Now they are ahead of Buffalo by one.
David Tanabe pushes Curtis Brown into ‘Canes goalie Arturs Irbe as Irbe reaches out to sweep puck away
The Sabres were the tonic that cured the Hurricanes ills. Lately they have become the miracle cure for ailing teams.
Arturs Irbe gets set to block Dixon Ward's backhand shot
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