SABRES BRING IN NEW YEAR WITH A BANG!
By Rick Anderson
January 2, 2000

The Buffalo Sabres brought in the New Year with a bang. They exploded with offensive fireworks not seen in years as they demolished the Toronto Maple Leafs 8-1 before a packed house mixed with both Sabres and Leafs fans. Marine Midland Arena was pulsating with excitement as the two teams who battled it out for the Eastern Conference in the playoffs last year opened the new century with fireworks, mostly supplied by the Sabres.

Curtis Brown and Thomas Kaberle battle for the puck along the boards

This game was like an accident waiting to happen for the Maple Leafs. They were on a six game winning streak, while the Sabres were coming off one of their worst defeats in a decade. After allowing 6 goals in one period against Detroit in their last game, the Sabres were determined to make amends with their fans who had booed them off the ice after that embarrassment. Also the Sabres were a team ready to explode. They were in a severe scoring drought, nothing was going their way. The law of averages were against the Leafs in the first game of the year 2000. If you were a gambler, it was definitely a night to go with the Sabres.

"I don't remember it being quite like that as long as I've been here," said Leafs' coach Pat Quinn. "It was awful. It was embarrassing. We were beaten in every area."

Like they did in their first meeting, the Sabres came out of the gates loaded for bear and took a quick 2-0 lead against the Leafs. With just 48 seconds gone by in the first period, Erik Rasmussen skated with the puck from the boards through the right circle and fired a wrist shot past a screened Curtis Joseph for Buffalo's first goal of the new millennium. The Sabres got another one 66 seconds later when Miroslav Satan found Wayne Primeau all alone in front of Joseph and Primeau blasted his shot through for a quick 2-0 lead.

Back on December 6, the Sabres had also taken a quick 2-0 lead against the Leafs, only to let Toronto get back into the game. The Leafs eventually won in overtime when Michael Peca made a dead giveaway from right behind his net.

In this first game of the New Millennium, it looked like deja vu all over again. Alexei Zhitnik took an undisciplined interference penalty at the 9 minute mark and the Leafs capitalized on it when Steve Thomas got possession behind the Sabres' net and backhanded a pass to Matts Sundin. Sundin had Martin Biron in a vulnerable position and shot it through Biron's legs, who was in a crouching position. The goal was Toronto's 10th power-play goal in their last nine games. The goal came at the 10:39 mark of the first period. Little did the Maple Leafs or their fans know what was in store for them the rest of the game.

All the fears about the Y2K bug came to pass for most of the world hours before. However, it seemed that the biggest Y2K glitch wrecked havoc on the Toronto Maple Leafs. They just were not Y2K compatible and the Sabres took full advantage of the Leafs meltdown.

Nik Antropov sends Geoff Sanderson flying at center ice

With only 3:12 left in the first period, Peca, at the top of the right face off circle, got a shot off on Joseph that Rasmussen was able to redirect. The puck just snuck in under CuJo's glove near the goal post and the Sabres regained their two goal advantage.

Peca, who appeared to have scored the third Buffalo goal, came out in the second period and lit the lamp just 57 seconds into the period. It was Peca's first goal since November 19, seventeen games ago. It seemed to Peca like he would never score again. He has been in a funk all season and things have not been going his way. The Sabres captain, who scored a career high 27 goals last season, finally got his sixth of the season. Even getting an assist has been uncommon for Peca this season. Now he had two straight points. It was as if the weight of the world was finally off his shoulders.

"It was like we were still playing street hockey," said Peca. "The other day, we had a fun street-hockey game before the Skills Competition. We just realize that it's what we did when we were kids out on the playground visualizing one day playing in the National Hockey League. Maybe it reinstated that joy we should have every day."

The Sabres continued their gun-ho street hockey style as Maxim Afinogenov notched his ninth when Primeau fed Mad Max from behind the net and the Russian rookie fired it past CuJo. Maxim got his second straight goal when he tore down the ice with Curtis Brown on a 2-on-1 break. Brown and Afinogenov made a couple of dazzling passes on the rush before Maxim shot it behind Joseph. It was his tenth of the season and tied him with the Rangers' Michael York as the NHL's top rookie goal scorer.

"They did a lot of good things out there, got a lot of bodies in front of the net and created a lot of two-on-ones," Joseph said. "They didn't look to me like a team that hadn't been playing well." That was it for Joseph. Leafs' coach Pat Quinn decided to go with Glenn Healy in the third period.

"It wasn't as if (Joseph's) play alone cost us, although he wasn't sharp either," Quinn said about his star goalie.

It was now Stu Barnes' turn to score two goals. Afinogenov and Geoff Sanderson assisted on the first Barnes goal 2:38 into the period. Then the Sabres broke another barrier when Barnes scored a power play goal 6 minutes into the period with his ninth of the season. That was all the scoring of the night, but the Sabres had plenty of chances after that eighth goal as they kept the pressure on the Leafs until the final horn.

"It was a bad game all around," said Sundin. "You could tell we weren't ready to play."

"You expect some off games, but nothing like that," Quinn said.

The eight goals were the most the Sabres had scored since their 8-3 win in Montreal in March of 1993. This was the first victory to open a New Year since 1971. Buffalo had a 4-0-1 record for its previous New Year's Day games.

Lindy Ruff juggled his lines prior to the game. He moved center Curtis Brown to right wing on the Peca line. The result was a career-high 4 point night for Brown, a two point game for Peca, and two goals for Rasmussen.

"It was a lot of fun," said Brown. "The funny thing about this game is that you can go out the next day and it can be an uphill battle where you're chasing all night long. We just wanted to keep it simple. Michael and Erik made it easy on me. They were getting to the open areas."

"I have the opportunity with these two guys to have a good time on the ice again," said Rasmussen about his two linemates. "It was a lot of fun tonight. We worked hard and created some offensive chances along the way. We really created havoc for them."

Biron had an easy time of it Saturday as he had to face only 18 shots, while the Sabres blasted 35 shots on the Toronto goalies.

"The heat wasn't on me tonight," said Biron. "We got some great bounces."

The Sabres suffered two potentially serious injuries when Primeau went down with a left thigh injury and Rhett Warrener had to leave the game in the second because of a strained hip muscle. Both Primeau and Warrener are listed as day-to-day. Kris King got knee to knee contact with Primeau and was assessed a minor for charging.

"My game is body contact," said King. "When you are ready to check a guy, and suddenly, as he is coming at you, he goes to the side, you are the one who is caught flat-footed."

"I thought the only thing worth a review would be the King hit on Primeau," Ruff said. "I looked at a replay and that definitely was a knee."

Monday night the Leafs have their chance at revenge for this embarrassing loss. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the Sabres will be facing a team out to make amends.

"I don't know if that's a good thing or not," Quinn said about getting right back against the Sabres. "I don't know how to explain it. You would have figured the rivalry between these two teams alone would have stoked our guys up. I am sure (the Sabres) do like playing us."

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