Shooting Stars down Sabres
By Rick Anderson
December 13, 2001
For two weeks it looked like the Buffalo Sabres were out of the woods and climbing in the standings. After three straight losses, the Sabres have reverted back to their bumbling ways and are looking up at everyone in their division. They had the Dallas Stars on the ropes in the second period and let them off, losing 4-3 on a late goal by Jere Lehtinen.
The Stars came back twice to tie the Sabres and eventually won with just over two minutes to go in the game when Lehtinen banged a rebound of a shot by Martin Rucinsky past Biron with two minutes and change left in the game.
"I don't know who was on my back," explained Lehtinen. "I just tried to shoot it and I got a good shot on net."
It was a bitter defeat for the Sabres, who had fought hard to take the lead in the game twice. Now the Sabres find themselves 3 games under .500 and on the playoff extinction list and it's still two weeks before Christmas.
With Noronen called up from Rochester to put more pressure on Biron to perform, it seemed to work in reverse. Mike Modano got the puck from the right corner and skated a little before the right faceoff circle. Then he threw the puck towards the net. Biron, who has been vexed as of late, saw the puck bounce off his right skate and into the net. For fluky goals, this one rivaled one that Slava Kozlov scored early in the season when he flipped the puck from behind the net off the goalie's back and into the net.
Biron, who allowed two shorthanded goals against the Bruins on Saturday, seems to be fighting the puck constantly. He was more prepared for the starting goalie position two years ago when he filled in for an injured Hasek for almost half a year. This season so far, Biron looks far from ready to be the Sabres No. 1 goalie.
Biron made 25 saves on the Stars 29 shots. He did have several good saves, but the first and the last goals were ones he had to stop. Biron wasn't able to and as a result, he may be sitting on the bench Friday against the Canes.
The Sabres were able to get only 18 shots on goal against the two Stars goaltenders. However, they scored on 1 of every 6 shots. In fact, Buffalo scored on 2 of its first three shots.
After Modano's fluke goal, Stu Barnes came back less than a minute later to tie the game up.
Miroslav Satan got the puck up to Barnes, who cut up the right side to the faceoff circle, where he shot through backup goalie Marty Turco's pads, evening up the game. Defenseman Dimitri Kalinin got a shot over Turco's shoulder three and a half minutes after Barnes goal to give Buffalo the lead.
At the 19:28 mark of the first period, J.P. Dumont went off for a "Holding the Stick" penalty. That infraction would prove costly for the Sabres. Lehtinen tied up the game again with 44 seconds gone in the second stanza when he deflected another puck directed in the vicinity of the net by Modano. Once again, Biron was unable to stop the puck and the game was tied again.
Then came the prettiest goal of the night by newcomer Tim Connolly, as he juked and deked his way in front of Eddie Belfour, who had come in to replace Turco. Connolly sent a backhander that cleanly beat Eddie the Eagle and the Sabres once again had a one-goal lead with 6:38 gone by in the period. That would be the last goal that Belfour would allow.
"He's got the talent," Ruff praised Connolly. "Not many guys can do what he did. He totally froze Belfour and he made it look easy."
The Stars tied it up again when Pat Verbeek pushed the puck in towards Biron and Buffalo defenseman Jay McKee tried to block it. It got past him and Jamie Langenbrunner whisked it past Biron to tie up the game once again.
The game had all appearances as if it were going into overtime when Lehtinen scored his second of the night and sent the Sabres back to Buffalo with their third straight loss.
Biron, although he seems to be playing with a lack of confidence, seemed to be pretty upbeat considering that he is in danger of losing his starting job.
"It's really frustrating to really let one slide away like that," admitted Biron. "I gave up a bad one on the first goal, but everyone battled back and made great plays. We had our chances."
Other Sabres thought they had a good shot at beating the Stars at home.
"It was a tough one for us," said Sabres winger Vaclav Varada. "We at least deserved a point. We created enough good chances against a good defensive team that you don't expect it to be 4-3 in the end. No one would expect that."
Rhett Warrener tried to sort out the bitter defeat.
"A tie would have been disappointing, but at least it would have been a little more rewarding," said Warrener.
Ruff cited one opportunity the Sabres had and missed.
"Afinogenov missed a wide-open net that would have made it 4-2," cited Ruff. "In the later half of that shift, they end up tying the game up. That's probably the difference in the hockey game."
Meanwhile, the Stars are sparkling like Roman candles.
"We're hunting down pucks right now," remarked Modano. "We have a jump to our game. It's been a fun 2 weeks. When you're on a streak like that, you can't wait for the next game."
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Sabres goaltender Martin Biron, who took over for Dominik Hasek this year when the Sabres traded the 6-time Vezina Trophy winner to Detroit, is having his share of problems this year filling in the Dominator's skates. For the third game in a row, Biron not only allowed 4 goals, but was the victim of a goal that was embarrassing to say the least. He has allowed at least 4 goals in those 3 games that even Junior goalies stop with ease. Now it is up to Sabres coach Lindy Ruff to decide the fate of Biron. It is an obvious choice for Ruff to start rookie Mika Noronen in goal on Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Stars Sergei Zubov steals the puck from Sabres Erik Rasmussen as Dallas goalie Marty Turco and Slava Kozlov watch in the first period action.
[AP Photo/Bill Janscha]
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