Leafs get retribution in 6-2 thrashing
By Rick Anderson
January 4, 2000
They say "what goes around comes around." Well, it came full circle for the Buffalo Sabres Monday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs made up for their 8-1 embarrassment on New Year's Day by blasting Buffalo 6-2. It was a complete reversal of roles for the two teams. Toronto dominated the game and the scoreboard while the Sabres retreated into their shells like turtles.
"It was a good bounce-back effort," said Leafs' coach Pat Quinn . "It was a humiliating night and we certainly competed better around the puck."
"The other night, our best defense was our offense," said Biron. "We stayed in their end the whole night. Tonight was the opposite. They stayed in our zone the whole night. The battled harder than they did Saturday. They were hungrier."
Sergei Berezin was a huge thorn in the Sabres side as he took 11 shots on goal and scored on two of them. He also had an assist and failed to convert on a 2-on-1 break in the third period.
"We felt very bad and it felt good to get six goals," said Berezin. "The whole team played a strong game. We needed a good start. They play differently when they get ahead."
The other Leaf goal-getters in this game were Dmitri Khristishlad and Kevyn Adams who both notched one, while Igor Korolevalso had a pair.
Biron looked only average at times as he allowed four to get past him while making 28 saves. Dwayne Roloson, who started the third, wasn't two much better when he gave up a pair of goals and made 11 saves. Curtis Joseph came back strong in this game, making 27 saves and recorded his 20th win this season.
"They capitalized on every chance they had," Roloson said. "We can't just brush it under the rug and say, "Let's go.' We have to address it right away because we have another game."
The Maple Leafs now lead the entire Eastern Conference with the win and as a result, Pat Quinn will be the coach for the North American squad in the All-Star game. Lindy Ruff had the honor of being the World All-Star coach when the Sabres were in first place in the Conference.
"I was going to be around anyway ... but this is an extra special gift,"Quinn said.
The Leafs dominated the game from the start, determined to make amends for their lackluster performance on New Year's night.
"It was a big win after Saturday's game,"Adams said. "We were pretty humiliated in every area of the game. Not much was said the last couple of days and everyone just focused and came back with a huge effort tonight.It was up to us to undo what happened, and we showed a lot of professionalism."
Curtis Brown got his 13th of the season when fed a perfect pass from Michael Peca from behind the Toronto net in the third. James Patrick added the Sabres' second goal. All in all, it was a complete reversal of form for the Sabres and once again puts them back to square one.
"Obviously, they got some retribution on us," said Lindy Ruff. "Our defense looked young. We had trouble on the back end. You give a team the lead in their building, and Joseph got a little confidence. It snowballed from there."
"They got those power-play goals and they started to take the play," said James Patrick. "They had an off night (Saturday) and we knew it would be a tough game."
The Sabres get right back into the action tonight when they host the Atlanta Thrashers.
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The Leafs outshot the Sabres 41-29 and Martin Biron, who started the game, was pulled after the second period with Buffalo down 4-0.
Curtis Joseph makes another spectacular save in Leafs 6-2 victory over Buffalo>
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