Sabres tie expansion Thrashers
By Rick Anderson
Sunday, October 10, 1999

This was supposed to be easy! It was supposed to be just what the doctor ordered. After losing their first two games, the Buffalo Sabres had a chance to right their sail and find their winning ways again against the new NHL expansion team, the Atlanta Thrashers. But the Sabres continued a trend they established last season by playing down to and below a weaker team.

Per Svartvadet closes in on Dominik Hasek

The Sabres had to come back three times to tie this one at 5-5. Twice they were down by two goals and it looked like they were going to gift wrap Atlanta's first victory. The team seemed to be in disarray last night and looked like they were headed for their third straight loss. Even Dominik Hasek was chased from the nets and onto the bench after he let in the fourth Thrasher goal. Dominik did not look good on any of those.

"Sometimes it happens," Hasek said about being pulled at the 7:48 mark of the second period.. "It's disappointing anytime you have to leave the game. But this wasn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I don't think about reasons."

Buffalo is still in search for its first win after three games, while the Thrashers earned their first point in franchise history. Atlanta, losers to the Devils (4-1) and Detroit (7-1), gave Hasek fits as they scored four times on the befuddled goalie.

"We looked overconfident," Lindy Ruff said during the post game conference. "We didn't come out to play. We need to start competing. We had plenty of chances to score, we created all kinds of action. We just needed to put our minds to it."

"There wasn't anyone that was good," Ruff continued. "Dominik allowed a couple of goals he should not have allowed, but we also didn't play well defensively."

The game was delayed in the brand new Philips Arena as half the lights were not functioning. Denny Lambert gave the Thrasher fans plenty to cheer about when he scored the game's first goal at 4:23 of the first period. Curtis Brown got his first tally of the young season and then Miro Satan also recorded his first goal as the Sabres took a 2-1 lead and looked like they were about to finally come alive.

But Patrik Stefan scored his first NHL goal against the best goaltender in the world. Stephen, last June's first overall choice in the amateur draft, got one past his fellow citizen of the Czech Republic.

"I never met him but I know about him, of course," Stefan said of the most renown hero of his native country. "He's the best goalie in the world and the NHL. It was kind of my dream to score a goal on him some day."

WATCH PATRIK STEFAN'S FIRST NHL GOAL

Andrew Brunette got the Thrashers' third goal at 5:45 of the second period. Then Stefan came in and did some more of his magic that made him the No.1 draft choice this year. With 7:51 left in the period, Hasek misplayed a weak shot by Nelson Emerson. Stefan went behind the net and picked up the loose puck. The net lunged forward and was tilted up 45 degrees, but dropped back down as Stefan did a wraparound and shot it past the dazed Hasek. The goal was reviewed upstairs, but it stood. As a result, Hasek was yanked from the goal and was finished for the night. Hasek gave up four goals on just 21 shots. He has now allowed 7 goals in a game and a half.

"If you give up too many good chances you're going to get burned," Curtis Brown said. "We need to learn from that and move on. There were some plays we'd like to forget."

The Sabres made it 4-3 when Brian Holzinger sent a pass to Stu Barnes who was standing in the slot. Barnes one-timed his shot past Damian Rhodes for his fist goal of the season. But the Sabres defense, still hurting from the absence of both Rhett Warrener and Jay McKee, had a colossal lapse in play when Emerson skated all alone on Dwayne Roloson after taking a pass from Kelly Buchberger, and flipped a backhander over Roloson's shoulder with only 1:59 left in the period. That gave the Thrashers another two goal lead, 5-3, at the end of the period.

Ruff was fuming over the teams decrepit play and had a closed door meeting after the second period. Whatever he said in that meeting paid off as the Sabres came back storming in the final session. At the 2:07 mark of the third, Brown got his second of the game as he was good on a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that got in just inside the near goalpost. to pull the Sabres within one again.

Later in the third, the Sabres got the break they sorely needed. In a wild scramble in the Atlanta goal crease, Emerson leaped on the loose puck in the crease, putting his hand on it and stopping play. That resulted in a penalty shot for the Sabres.

"I was just laying there like a snow angel in the crease, so I didn't see if our guy put a glove on it or not, but they reviewed so I guess he did," said Rhodes.

Ruff decided to put his top scorer on the ice to do the honors. Satan took the puck at center ice, skated in on Rhodes, faked to his left and beat the fallen Thrasher goalie with a backhander on the glove side. The last time the Sabres had a penalty shot was on April 11, 1998. It just so happened that Rhodes was in goal that time also, and Dixon Ward was able to score on him.

"I was pretty intent on stopping it," Rhodes said. "The guy made a pretty good move and I didn't give him much, but he got it through there."

The game went into overtime, and the Sabres fans had a chance to see the new overtime format where there are only 4 skaters a side. Buffalo got a break with only 38 seconds left in overtime when Stefan picked up a double-minor for high-sticking. However, the Sabres couldn't take advantage and didn't generate a shot on goal with the 4-on-3 advantage.

"We came out with those two quick goals in the third and we would have liked to build on that," Lindy said after the game. "We had a chance with that short power play in overtime and we mishandled it."

On the other side, Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said, "Our guys were really hungry tonight to score goals, but on the other side our defensive zone struggled again. I think it was our best offensive effort but defensively we can certainly do better."

"We just didn't play our game," said center Michael Peca. "It seemed like we were taking them for granted. We're really fortunate to come out with a tie."

"We didn't come to play," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff lamented. "We didn't do anything until we were behind. Give them credit. They worked extremely hard but it's not an acceptable effort."

The Sabres had a glorious opportunity to win their first game, going against an expansion team, but they made Atlanta look like playoff contenders.

"Considering we were playing Atlanta, we're not happy with a tie," said Satan. "We wanted to win, but you can't give up five goals."

Off the ice, the Sabres cut the number of restricted agents unsigned down to one last night as they finally agreed in terms with defenseman Jay McKee. McKee agreed to a four-year deal worth $5.3 million. After seeing how terrible the Sabres defense has played it its first three games, McKee decided something had to be done, so he settled the contract dispute. He actually signed the contract after Friday's loss to the Capitals, but felt he would wait until Monday's game against Phoenix before suiting up.

The new deal that McKee signed is almost a carbon copy of Curtis Brown's package. Officially, it is for three years, but there is a fourth year option. That option cuts both ways. If McKee performs well and achieves the called out goals, then he can renegotiate for the final year. "I'm very happy," a happy McKee said. "We weren't really interested in three years and an option, but it the long run it makes sense. If I can have three good seasons, I can deserve to get out of the fourth year. If I have OK seasons, it's to their advantage. It's fair."

McKee has been trying to stay in shape by practicing with the St. Catharines junior team. However, he was seriously thinking about playing in Europe or the Canadian National hockey team. He still can opt for Europe if there is a sudden snag to the contract because he hasn't officially put his signature on the contract.

"I'll carry a pen around until I see the papers," McKee said. "Conditioning-wise, I feel good. "I've been training as much as possible. It wasn't long ago when I was in the Stanley Cup finals. I just want to take that confidence with me and carry it into the season. I don't think there's a player looking more forward to the season than me."

Last year, McKee, in his first full NHL season, had a breakout year. When the Sabres got Rhett Warrener in exchange for Mike Wilson from Florida, it turned the 22-year old defenseman's career around. The two blended together like cream and coffee. Both of them would bang around bodies as if they were bowling pins. Their play earned them the tag "the Bruise Brothers" and they were the Sabres defensive pairing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Warrener is the last restricted free agent left unsigned with the Sabres. He wanted to wait until McKee established the benchmark before getting serious with his own negotiations. Herb Pinder is representing Warrener and hopes that he can help him reunite with his defensive partner McKee in the following week. As the Sabres are struggling severely without either player, they hope the contract can be resolved soon. The Sabres brass is also concerned about Warrener's ankle which he suffered when Derian Hatcher fell on top of him during a scuffle during the Stanley Cup Finals.

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