Peca rattles some bones to lead Sabres' stomping of Flames
By Rick Anderson
March 24, 2000
Michael Peca wanted to make a statement right from the start. What he did was to completely ignore the shoulder brace he was wearing and deliver three of the most devastating hits of his career. In doing so, he set the tone that helped the Sabres stage a dramatic come-from-behind 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Peca, who was injured in the last game against the Washington Capitals, had what some consider a miraculous recovery of his separated shoulder. When he received the injury at the hands of Steve Konowalchuk, it appeared that the Sabres captain was to be loss to the Sabres for the remainder of the regular season. A week later, the Sabres traded for a pair of captains, Chris Gratton and Doug Gilmour.
"I didn't want to be tentative," insisted Peca. "I wanted to get some emotion on our side and put to rest any hesitation in my own mind about what my limits are. I put myself through the test I wanted to today by playing a physical game and getting involved all over the ice. (The shoulder) responded real well."
After getting the clearance from team doctors, Peca came out and played one of the most physical games of his life. He had a total of three hits in the game and two of them were so ravaging that he left two Flames fallen on the ice in extreme pain. The hits were so thunderous that it made one wonder if Peca had a mental picture of Steve Konowalchuk implanted on the two Flames he snuffed out.
In the first period, Peca wiped out both Marc Bureau and Valeri Bure, leaving them withering in pain. Peca answered the bell right from the start as he body-slammed Bureau along the boards. Bureau was down on the ice for over a minute before he could get the cobwebs out of his head. The hit on Bure was so powerful that the ref tagged him with a roughing penalty. It took both Bure and Bureau a couple minutes to recover enough to make it off the ice. Bureau got his clock rung first as Peca got him behind the Sabres net and charged into him like a Mac truck. Bure may have suffered a concussion as he did not return to the game after suffering dizziness and wooziness from Peca's powerful blow.
With the Bure hit, Peca got his right forearm into Bure's head. The hits may have been borderline, but it definitely made their mark and proved that the Freight train called Peca was back.
The Sabres found themselves in a hole early in the game as the Flames scored first a little over a minute into the game after Marc Bureau and Valeri Bure broke in on a two-on-one on Hasek and Bureau squeezed the puck between Hasek's right shoulder and the post. Miroslav Satan finally broke his 13-game scoreless streak for his 30th of the season at the 2:56 mark of the period.
Satan, who came up with numerous bizarre celebrations during last year's playoff run, decided beforehand that he would "do something stupid" when he finally broke the drought. After getting his 30th of the season and 100th as a Sabre, Satan whipped off his glove and started smashing it with his stick. What was that all about?
"I don't know," laughed Satan. "Should I beat up one of my teammates?"
Maybe Satan was ridding himself of all the evil demons that were haunting him.
One of the key moments of the game came after the Flames had taken a 2-1 lead and at the 9:36 mark of the third period, Jason Wiemer clanked one off the goalpost. Had he scored and put the Flames up 3-1, the game was practically over. Right after that, the Sabres came down on a break with Stu Barnes leading the way. He fed Sanderson who broke in on Fred Brathwaite and was able to stuff it past Brathwaite to tie the game at two. The goal came exactly ten seconds after Wiemer hit the post and almost put the game away.
That goal was enormous. Before for that goal, it looked as if Brathwaite was going to steal the show. He made incredible save after incredible save (23 in all) and nothing was getting past him.
"It could have gone the other way for them," a relieved Sanderson said. "Barnes made a great pass. That really turned it around for us."
The game stayed at 2-2 until late in the game when Maxim Afinogenov made a sparkling play behind the Brathwaite, skating with intensity behind the Calgary net and then coming all the way out to almost the blue line and making a perfect pass to Jay McKee who drilled a shot past Brathwaite just like he did a couple nights ago. That turned out to be the game winner.
The Sabres struck again when Doug Gilmour continued his point streak with the Sabres, feeding Satan for his 31st of the season.
"We were in big trouble," said Hasek who made 20 saves. "With 10 minutes left, it didn't look well for us, but we came back. All of a sudden, we scored two goals. Jay McKee, I've never seen him shoot so hard."
From then on, the Sabres took it to the Flames and vaulted over Montreal for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Along with Peca, Alexei Zhitnik also was on the ice for the first time since missing six games with a broken finger.
When Calgary took the lead almost halfway through the third period, you could almost hear the life being sucked out of the Sabres and the sellout crowd in HSBC Arena.
"Everybody recognized that maybe the playoffs were disappearing," remarked Satan. "That was the turning point. Nobody wanted that to happen. We had 10 minutes to turn the game around and pick it up. With (Sanderson's) goal, we got even and we were able to take it from them in the end."
When asked if he now considered himself back into the groove again after notching two goals, Satan said,"I'm just a guy who scored two goals after a 13-game slump, so I don't think I'm back."
Satan said that only if he goes on a scoring binge and helps the Sabres make the playoffs will he change his mind.
"Maybe then, I'll consider myself being back, "insisted Satan .
"Everybody's perception was that this was going to be an easy hockey game for us," said Lindy Ruff after the game. "They play a very tough, defensive style. If you don't get a lead on them, if you don't jump on them, they don't open up at all. It was a grind-it-out game where you had to sit on the edge of your seat all night."
"It was a tough hockey game," said Calgary coach Brian Sutter. "At this time of year, it's a game of inches. You can't be disappointed with how our team played. Obviously, we're disappointed with the outcome."
"It wasn't the prettiest first two periods," Peca talked about the gritty play in the first two periods. "But we realized the importance of this situation. Guys dug down deep."
The Sabres have three days off until playing a home-and-home series with Carolina. After that, they enter the stretch to the finish that includes games with Montreal, Toronto, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and ends with the blood rematch with Washington.
"There's a lot of teams really fighting for positioning and you're not going to find any easy game anymore," said McKee.
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Maybe the added excitement generated by the new blood helped Peca's shoulder heal much sooner than anticipated. But whatever happened, Peca was not to be denied. He was not going to let this Sabres season slip into the abyss that had befallen the Washington Capitals the year before, that of going to the finals one year and failing to make the playoffs the next. No, the Sabres' captain was determined to make his presence known and that he was ready to play.
Michael Peca signals to the NHL and Flames winger Valeri Bure that his shoulder is just fine when he decks Bure with another one of his "Freight Train" hits. Peca temporarily put Bure out of the game and received a roughing penalty as a result.
[AP Photo/Don Heupel]
The game remained a 1-1 game until 7:59 into 3rd period when Jeff Cowan stuffed the puck past Hasek. At that point, things looked bleak for the Sabres.
The Flames' Jeff Shantz gets off a wrist shot on Dominik Hasek, but the Sabres' netminder makes one of his 20 saves in helping Buffalo win 4-2.
[AP Photo/Don Heupel]
"It's gonna show on the ice," McKee remarked about the return of Peca and Zhitnik . "Peca made some big hits. It's great to have them back."
Michael Peca forechecks Marc Savard during the first period. This wasn't one of his thundering hits, but still got the desired result.
[AP Photo/Don Heupel]
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