Les Dominator makes life miserable for Habs
By Rick Anderson
April 2, 2000
If you have heart problems, now is not the time to be following the Buffalo Sabres. With four games left, the Sabres face a gruesome schedule and a mountain to climb. They are sure to keep their fans on the edge of their seats until their final regular season game next Sunday in Washington to see whether they make the playoffs.
The implications of the Buffalo win are monumental. Had the Sabres lost, they would have been 3 points behind the Canadiens. By winning the Sabres jumped over both Carolina and Montreal to claim the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, if only momentarily. The Sabres now have 79 points to the Habs and ‘Canes 78 points. All three have four games left, but Buffalo by and far has the toughest schedule. They have to play the top three teams in the conference, Toronto, New Jersey and the final game of the season against the Washington Capitals. Their second last game is against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who they have only a slight chance of overtaking.
The Hurricanes have what some consider the easiest schedule with games against the Flyers and Penguins before finishing with a home-and-home series with the expansion Atlanta Thrashers.
Montreal has two very winnable games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Rangers sandwiched between tough games with the Detroit Red Wings and their final game against the Ottawa Senators.
The road is all uphill for the Sabres. They dug their own hole by starting off poorly and never breaking the .500 mark. Their destiny is in their own hands, but their work is cut out for them.
"You lose once in five games and it's a sleepless night for you," Lindy Ruff commented. "Even though Pittsburgh lost today, they're still in the mix. ... I feel a lot better tonight than I did when I woke up at 6:30 this morning."
"I'm convinced that this will not be decided until the last game of the season, when we play Washington in the afternoon."
To say that Hasek was the difference in the game is a huge understatement. He was back to the form he displayed when he won two Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player and five Vezina Trophies. If it were possible, Hasek should have gotten all three stars for his stellar performance. It was the kind of game he played in Game 1 against Ottawa last year in Buffalo's first playoff series where he stonewalled the Senators and set the stage for the Sabres run through the playoffs last season.
As good as Hasek was against the Canadiens, he played almost as good against the Hurricanes the night before. The only exception being the two goals he let in that he normally stops. Hasek was determined not to let that happen again.
The game itself was almost a duplicate for the Sabres of the one played the night before against the Hurricanes. The Sabres scored the first goal and tried to sit on it for the rest of the night. In total, Montreal goalie Jeff Hackett had to make only 14 saves.
Michael Peca scored the winner 15:37 into 1st period when he received a perfect pass from Vladmir Tsyplakov and gunned it past Jeff Hackett from the left faceoff circle. The shot actually hit Habs defenseman Patrice Brisebois and it deflected over goalie Jeff Hackett's shoulder and into the net.
Peca had actually started the play when he knocked down a pass in mid-air that could have sent a Montreal player in alone on Hasek. From there, Vaclav Varada took the puck up the other way on a break, fed it over to Tsyplakov, who then found Peca alone on the left side. It was a perfectly executed play and was the only one the Sabres needed with Hasek playing out of his skull. Hasek made 27 saves and at least half of them were spectacular.
The Sabres also got into penalty trouble like they did the night before against Carolina as they had to kill off 6 shorthanded situations compared to the two the Canadiens were given. But the Sabres defense held on and with Hasek being their last line of defense, Buffalo road that 1-0 lead until the end when Vaclav Varada slid the puck into an empty net with only 27 second left in the contest.
The defense did play outstanding, especially during the six shorthanded situations. Peca, coming off his two-game suspension for his elbow on Calgary's Valeri Bure, was out there on the majority of the penalty-kills. He did not let up on his physical game and his constant forechecking didn't allow the Habs to cycle in deep in the Buffalo zone when they were a man up.
"I'm so happy we won. I felt so bad sitting out at a critical time," admitted Peca, who actually had a huge smile on his face after gunning home the winner. "You have no idea what a good feeling it is. I knew if we didn't win we weren't going to be mathematically eliminated. But it would have been stacked against us. Obviously, now we're in a much better position."
Hasek's biggest save of the night came in the latter stages of the second period. He got out of position as he gave up a rebound on a shot by Craig Darby, lost his stick and had to rush back as Craig Rivet was about to shoot it into an empty net. What Hasek did was "Classic Dominator." He made a sprawling slide and got his blocker out to just barely stop Rivet's shot with the inside of his glove right on the goal line. The puck was lying there until a Sabres defenseman quickly cleared it out. That save will definitely be added to "Hasek's saves of all-time" coming to a video store near you.
"I tried to backhand it as quickly as possible and maybe catch him sleeping," Rivet continued. "I saw the opening in the bottom corner and all I wanted to do was get the shot off as quickly as possible. It seemed like he was out of the play, but then his arm came out of nowhere. I never saw it. I'd like to have that chance back. He made a great save. It was the difference in the game."
Hasek also made 2 brilliant glove saves on Dainius Zubrus, and stopped Sergei Zholtok's point-blank shot in the third period with his right pad.
"We scored first, we played well defensively and I did my job," said Hasek, who recorded his second shutout of the season. "My defense did a really good job. I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates."
The Sabres desperately need Hasek at the top of his game with the final four games coming this week against dominating teams. If it is at all possible, Ruff is breathing a little easier with Hasek back to his old self.
"Since Hasek is back, that's as good as I've seen of him," Ruff declared.
The Canadiens must be questioning why Hasek had to pick this game to play his best hockey since the playoffs last season.
"We have to find something," said Sergei Zholtok. "We've been rested this week. We have no choice. We have to come up with a good effort if we can find one. We played well tonight but Hasek was the difference."
"I think they were tired after their game last night (against Carolina) and they played a smart game," Zholtok continued. "They used four lines and they kept things simple. They got the puck in their zone and made sure they dumped it out. They have a good goaltender and they help him by not letting you set up on the power play. They force you to dump it in and hope you can chase it down.
"When we score on the power play, we usually win, but we couldn't do it tonight."
"Both teams were playing desperate hockey out there tonight," said Habs coach Alain Vigneault. "We had more scoring chances than they did, but Hasek came up with the big saves. Both goalies played excellent hockey and that one goal was the difference."
"They play very aggressively. I noticed that in their game last night against Carolina, even though they gave up a power-play goal. They challenge you all the time."
The Canadiens, who have overcome a long list of injuries to remain in contention for the last playoff seed, find themselves a point back but are now about to abandon ship yet.
"I wouldn't say it's a devastating loss," asserted Rivet, "but it's pretty major. We could have been three points up on them and now we're one point down. We're still there and anything can happen."
The Journal de Montreal, Le online newspaper says it best about Hasek and his dominance over the Habs:
"Face aux Sabres de Buffalo, hier, dans ce qui constituait un match capital pour sa survie, le Canadien n'a pas été foutu d'inscrire un tout petit but, subissant un revers douloureux de 2-0 devant Dominik Hasek et, en présence d'une belle foule qui, toutefois, était amèrement déçue au sortir de l'édifice."
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Dominik Hasek, coming off a game in which two soft goals cost the Sabres the game against the Carolina Hurricanes, played brilliant in the nets and blanked the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 Saturday night in the Molson Centre.
Dominik Hasek makes sprawling save on Shayne Corson. "The Dominator" had a dominating performance against the Habs, shutting them out 2-0.
[AP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz]
"For us, it was more important to win," Hasek said. "If we lost, we would have been behind by three points. There are three teams, us, Montreal and Carolina. I think Pittsburgh is about in. What can I say? We have a couple of games left and we have to keep playing like that."
He's back! Michael Peca scores the winning goal against the Canadiens and celebrates afterwards with Vladimir Tsyplakov, who fed him with a perfect pass.
[AP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz]
"I can't believe Hasek made that stop," an astonished Rivet said. "He's sensational!. He made a pretty good save. Playing against a guy like him makes the difference between being a 50-goal scorer or a three-goal scorer."
Dainius Zubrus is shut down by Dominik Hasek in third period during the Sabres 2-0 victory in Montreal's Molson Centre.
[AP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz]
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