Sabres besiege Flyers like old times!
By Rick Anderson
December 14, 1999

The first two games between the Sabres and the Flyers seemed to be missing something. The Flyers were able to dominate and physically manhandle the Sabres. Their captain, Eric Lindros was able to ram the Sabres goaltender without getting any retribution and the rest of the Flyers overpowered Buffalo with their size and brute force. All that nonsense ended last night with the Flyers captain being scratched from the lineup and the Sabres captain coming back from his long sabbatical. The Buffalo Sabres stepped up to the task at hand and played like they have the past two years against their oversized nemesis by whipping the team once known as the Broad Street Bullies 3-1.

Maxim Afinogenov one-times perfect pass for first goal

One of the biggest questions about the 1999-2000 version of the Buffalo Sabres being asked by all Sabres fans and Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff was "Where is Michael Peca?" The team captain was nowhere to be found, especially the past month. What was in the Sabres uniform wearing the number 27 was a shell of the former Selke winner. The player feared by most NHL opponents for his monstrous open-ice hits, was now a shadow of his former self. He was not making heady plays, he abandoned his battering ram style of play, and had cost his team a couple of games with bonehead mistakes late in the games. Last night, the old Michael Peca returned. Ruff must have hired an exorcist to rid his captain of the evil spirts possessing his body. Peca turned those demons inside out and used them against the Flyers. Once again the most feared checker in the National Hockey League was doing what has brought him acclaim throughout the world of hockey. Once again Mike Peca was delivering the punishing checks that rattles the bones of opponents and brings the Sabres game up to a new level. Welcome back, Mr. Peca! Warning to the rest of the NHL: The sleeping giant may have awakened - a freight train named Peca may be heading to an arena near you.

The reawakening of Peca couldn't have come at a better time for Ruff and the Sabres. Buffalo has been more than struggling all season long and recently the Sabres were in one of their most severe scoring droughts in the franchise history. What has been the one key element missing in this year's edition that was the primary factor in Buffalo's success in previous years? Hitting! The physical aspect of Buffalo's game starts and stops with its captain. He sets the tone of the game with his open-ice assaults. Peca's cremations along the boards accentuates the underlining theme of this team. The Sabres, who were once called "the hardest working team in the NHL," have hardly been that this season. In fact, during the vast majority of games this year, the only players to show up have been the goalies.

That all changed last night. The last game between these two teams resulted in Lindros and Company running the Sabres out of their own building. Peca and his henchmen made certain that was not going to happen again last night.

The entire Sabres team came out loaded for bear in this one. The hitting squads kicked it up a couple notches and had the Flyers player licking their chops by game's end. The defense continued to play an exceptionally solid game and the offense seems to be slowly starting to jell.

"That's what we're working on, playing a solid game," said Michal Grosek who scored one of the Sabres goals. "There will be ups and downs. That's just the way it works."

Lindros was scratched from the lineup because of an injured left hand he suffered in a scuffle in the Flyers last game against Toronto. Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck was given the night off for rest and relaxation in favor of Brian Boucher, who was coming into the game with five-game winning streak, a 2.09 GAA and a .900 save percentage. Boucher had stopped 100 of 109 of the last shots he faced.... until last night.

Cory Sarich puts the wraps on Mikael Renberg

Brian Holzinger, one of the leading Sabres for Snake Bite King this year, had two assists. His first one came when he set up Maxim Afinogenov on a dazzling one-timer. Zinger skated into the Flyer's zone, slipped though the Philly defense and fed the puck to Mad Max all alone in front of Boucher. There was no stopping the Russian Rocket from scoring his eighth of the season, as he banged it home on the open right side at 8:54 of the opening stanza.

"We've been struggling to score goals," Holzinger said. "It was important to come out and play well against a team that really had been playing well this entire month. Things just seemed to work for our line. We had a lot of good scoring opportunities. It just shows you the type of players I had the opportunity to play with. Max, when he gets the puck, he certainly knows what to do with it. Stu is the same way. We clicked tonight. It's up to us to keep it going."

Martin Biron had another very solid game in the nets for Buffalo. Hasek's heir-apparent made 23 saves and recorded his 11th win of the season. Right before the Afinogenov goal, the Sabres netminder stopped Mark Recchi on a breakaway when he got his left leg over in time to block Recchi's shot. From then on, Biron had complete control of the game. Recchi was able to break Biron's shutout bid when he got a perfect feed and beat the Buffalo goalie on the same left side. It was Recchi's 14th of the season.

With only 38 seconds left in the second period, Cory Sarich shot a bullet from the point and Grosek was able to get his stick.

In the third, Recchi scored his goal to get the Flyers back into the game, but Jason Woolley scored when he got a high blast past Boucher. Richard Smehlik, who was back on the ice after being benched for over a week by Ruff, found Woolley alone at the top of the left faceoff circle and Jason let ‘er rip into the top corner past a startled Boucher.

"I'm more of a passer than a shooter," said Woolley. "I was looking for that pretty play but we have been having trouble scoring goals. We need the shot and I'm glad it went in."

"We didn't have a lot of jump early in the game," Flyers winger Sandy McCarthy said. "We were watching plays instead of jumping on them."

Most of the Flyers had the same feeling.

"No question, we didn't come out with the fire and emotion that we had been playing with," John LeClair said. "The first period, we sat back and watched. And we paid for it."

"It was a big win for us," said Woolley.

Peca and his other centermen dominated the faceoffs, winning 42-27.

"They're a good faceoff team to begin with, and we had a tough time with them the last game even with Eric there, so tonight they won some key ones," Roger Neilson said. Neilson, it was revealed last week, is suffering from bone cancer and will begin chemotherapy today.

"Roger said before the game: 'If you guys are still worried about this, don't be.' We're grownups, and we shouldn't be dwelling on it," Boucher said. "It shouldn't be an excuse."

Peca has himself been rejecting excuses for his poor play up until last night. His game just wasn't acceptable to the team nor himself. But Lindy Ruff refused to bench his team's captain. He had gone that route himself under Scotty Bowman and felt no captain should be forced to sit when his game goes a little south. There have been calls for his benching and some fans even went so far as to suggest that the Sabres trade him. Neither Ruff or Darcy Regier would even listen to such talk. They both knew that someday soon, the Michael Peca of old would return and rattle bones like the days of old. Everyone is hoping that last night's game against the Flyers was the first step towards his resurgence.

The Sabres play Friday at home against Florida and try to make it 3 straight wins.

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