Avalanche upend Sabres
By Rick Anderson
January 22, 2002
It took only 28 seconds for the Avs to set the tone of the game, as Adam Foote scored on Sabres goalie Martin Biron. Biron who has been allowing way too many goals in the first minute of the game, did his famous trick again in the Pepsi Center in Denver. Once again, Biron's failure to stop a lightning quick goal cost the Sabres dearly. From that point on, Biron settled down and played a solid game, making 38 saves.
Curtis Brown scored to tie it up when he got a great pass from Taylor Pyatt, who had stormed up the left side and bullied his way past a Colorado defender at the 7:20 of the first period. But the Avalanche took control of the game from there and showed that the Sabres are definitely not ready for prime time with the big boys. The Avs scored the next two goals, by Chris Drury in the second stanza and Milan Hejduk in the final period. Tim Connolly was able to get the Sabres within striking range, but the Sabres could not tie it as the Avs defense and goalie Patrick Roy shut them down.
The Avs had Biron in shell shock after the game.
"They shot from everywhere," Biron said. "Blake probably had three shots from his own zone which were as tough as any I've seen from outside our zone. They came pretty hard in the first two periods, but our effort was there."
The real shocker was the Foote goal, when just a few seconds after the opening faceoff, the Avs had the puck behind Biron. Biron, once again making a mistake clearing the puck, cleared right to Foote who shot it through James Patrick and off Biron's skate.
The goals by Drury and Hejduk, Biron had no chance on.
"They continued to put pressure on us," said Biron. "The last two goals hit me and found a way to get through.
The Sabres, who lost to the Avalanche in Buffalo 4-2 on December 7, looked worn out from the long western trip.
"We knew the game was going to be one of those where you have to grind it out - a lot of flipping pucks, pucks off glass - but they had pretty good wheels,"said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.
The Sabres now come home to play St. Louis on Wednesday and Tampa Bay on Friday before heading out to Washington and Carolina before the All-Star break.
Read ESPN's Recap for more game details.
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The Buffalo Sabres came home on Tuesday from their four-game road trip with only 4 points to show for it. Monday night they lost to the Colorado Avalanche 3-2, but the score wasn't indicative of how much the Avs outplayed the Sabres.
Avalanche center Ville Nieminen trips up the Sabres Erik Rasmussen in the third period as the Avs beat the Sabres 3-2.
[AP Photo/David Zalubowski]
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