Sabres pull even with the Habs with 4-1 thrashing
By Rick Anderson
March 20, 2000
Have the Sabres finally found themselves? It may have taken most of the season to do so, but they now have the feel and the look of a team that may actually be determined to sew down a playoff berth.
In one of the biggest games of the season, the Buffalo Sabres came through and defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in HSBC Arena Monday night. The game was a four-point swing. If the Sabres had lost, they'd be looking up at the Canadiens who would be 4 points in front. As it is, the Sabres and Habs are now tied with 73 points (Montreal has the tie-breaker with one more win and also has a game in hand).
"You talk about every game being a big one at this time of the season," Brian Savage said. "This one was huge."
The Sabres came out and played the same kind of game they did on Saturday against the Calgary Flames, in fact it was almost a duplicate right down to the final goal of the game.
The first period was a close-checking scoreless affair with the Sabres outshooting the Canadiens 15-4. They had some good opportunities but couldn't get it past Jeff Hackett.
Just like in the game in Calgary, the Sabres opened it up in the second, scoring three goals. Two of them game from long shots at the point. The Sabres went into their defensive shell in the third period, just like they did in Calgary where they only recorded two shots on goal. In this game, Buffalo didn't record their second shot until well after the halfway mark in the third stanza.
After the first period, the Sabres were starting to wonder what they would have to do to score a goal on Hackett. But Jay McKee answered that when he rifled a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that Hackett could not stop with his catching mit. It was McKee's third goal of the season and second in five games. That goal came 1:44 into the second period. The Sabres scored their first goal in the Calgary game at the 1:01 mark of the second period. With half the second period almost gone, Maxim Afinogenov picked up the loose puck near the blue line and broke in on Hackett, deked him before putting a backhand shot past the Montreal goalie at the 9:47 mark. Afinogenov also scored a goal against Calgary.
Just as he did in the second period against the Flames, Dixon Ward blasted a shot from far out (this time from the top of the right faceoff circle) that found twine. Ward's shot was kind of a knuckleball that hit Hackett's left pad before it made it to the back of the net.
The Sabres started the third period with a 3-0 lead, and just like they did in Calgary, decided to sit on the lead. That almost cost them dearly.
Martin Rucinsky scored at the 7:49 mark, ruining Dominik Hasek's shutout bid on the night they gave out his commemorative coin. The 500-1,000 Canadiens fans who attended the game finally had something to hoot about, even if it were short-lived.
Hasek, who had an easy time of it for the first two periods, came up with some big saves in the third.
"You know, we lost a couple of big ones," remarked Hasek who made 23 saves. "We lost to Montreal a couple of weeks ago, we lost to New York at home, these were big games in our building that we lost. And at least we won today."
Hasek's counterpart at the other end of the ice had to be spectacular in the first period to prevent an early blowout.
"I was surprised we didn't come out of the gate better, but I'm not surprised how the Sabres played tonight," Hackett said. "(Injuries) have nothing to do with it. We had 20 men on the ice and we've got a job to do. They were a very hungry team and a very good team. They were relentless and we didn't have our best effort. We have no margin of error."
The two teams meet again on April 1 at the Molson Center. That should be a wild night as it's the last time the two meet in the regular season.
After playing below average for a couple weeks, Hasek seems to have found his niche again and looks ready for the playoff run.
"There's still many big games coming. And this was one that we had to win," said Hasek
"It would have been nice to come out of Buffalo with something," said Patrice Brisebois, "but you've got to give them credit - they needed this game badly. We didn't have much but they didn't give us much. Nothing at all in the first two periods."
"We realized we are going to be able to score goals, but if you give up five or six it doesn't really matter," said Rhett Warrener. "You're not going to win too many when you give up that much. Everyone decided we have to play good defense to win games, and we've done that the last two games."
"It would have been big if they had pulled another game up on us," Warrener continued. "It would have been a real battle to get back. It would have been emotionally draining as well."
Ward who scored his third goal in as many games had to deal with the exhaustion factor.
"You can't afford to get tired, even if you are tired," Ward said. "This group did a good job of using what energy we had, and I think we felt really good. We had a game against Boston (on March 8) which we won in which this team felt terrible physically. I know the guys felt really good physically tonight, and one of the big reasons is that we haven't been taking penalties the last two nights. We've been able to use four lines and keep everybody fresh."
Ward also talked about the new-found success the Sabres have been experiencing, especially on offense.
"A big reason for our success has been our discipline," Ward said. "We were unbelievable tonight. We were up 25-5 in shots or something because we can roll four lines, and we didn't have to kill penalties."
Canadiens coach Alain Vigneault, who's one of the prime candidates for Coach of the year said, "I think we met a team tonight that had their "A' game going. They were executing, they were skating, they were shooting, they were playing really well. I think for the first half of the game it was really tough for us to follow their rhythm."
"This is the time of year when you have to be strong and sharp in every department," said Rucinsky. "We can't afford to take a night off. They came out hard, they outplayed us in the first period and took a 3-0 lead and we couldn't catch them."
"I don't even care what place we're in, because I know there are five teams right there," Ward insisted. "Depending on who's playing, it changes. We're not looking at where we are. We're looking at how many wins we're going to need to get us there. I'm guessing we want to win six games out of the next eight to guarantee us a spot. I think that will do it."
HOME
SEASON'S RESULTS
SABRE TALK MESSAGE BOARD
NEWSROOM
99 PLAYOFFS
"That was big," asserted Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. "It obviously was the biggest game of the year for us against a team we have to move up against in the standings, and a team we'd lost to previously in our building."
Dainius Zubrus attempts to get a shot off on Dominik Hasek as Stu Barnes and Jason Holland take him off the puck
[AP Photo/Don Heupel]
With the score 3-1 and time running out, Hackett left the net for the extra attacker. Vaclav Varada stole the puck with only a few ticks on the clock and scored into an empty net as he did in Calgary! The goal against the Flames came with 6 seconds remaining. In this game, Varada's goal came with 6 seconds left! The similarities between the two games was uncanny.
Rob Ray and Jim Cummins duke it out in the first period of Sabres 4-1 victory over Montreal
[AP Photo/Don Heupel]
This was the Sabres fourth game in six days. Exhaustion was a factor for both teams.
"That's the thing everyone was thinking about, including the coaching staff," admitted Ruff. "You put that much energy into a period and you walk away, and the Canadiens are tied with you, you're thinking one break and they get the lead."
The Dominik Hasek commemorative coin was handed out to the 18,690 fans who attended. Hasek was given a 2 minute standing ovation when his many feats
were announced during
a time out.
THE PLAYERS
STATISTICS
SCHEDULE
PROSPECTS
LIVE GAME RADIO
HISTORY
TEAM INFO
PHOTO GALLERY
MULTIMEDIA
SABRES POLL
TROPHY CASE
LINKS
THE STAFF
E-MAIL SABRESWORD
Copyright © 2000 Sabres Central, all rights reserved
