Sabres beat Hawks in OT on Brown's goal
By Rick Anderson
Friday, November 5, 1999
Curtis Brown provided his own fireworks last night as he scored 1:14 into overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks. It was a dramatic victory that should have been over a lot earlier. The Sabres almost let this one get away. Leading at one point, 3-1, Buffalo let the Black Hawks tie the game when their defense went flat.
The Hawks did what a lot of teams have been able to do to the Sabres the past two years - score in the last seconds of the contest to tie or win the game. Florida did it a couple weeks ago, scoring with only 33 seconds remaining to take a 2-1 lead. That goal put Hasek out for at least two months and the Sabres had to rally to tie it with only 18 seconds left. They eventually went on to win that one in overtime. The same was true last night in Chicago. After spotting the Sabres a 3-1 lead, the Hawks rallied to tie it up twice before Brown finally put them away.
Brown after taking a pass from Geoff Sanderson, skated in the Hawk zone and decided to shoot from around the right faceoff circle. The shot was blocked by Black Hawk Chicago defenseman Bryan Muir, bounced off the end boards and it suddenly took a strange hop right back near the crease. Chicago goalie Steve Passmore was beaten to the puck by an on-rushing Brown and he chipped it top shelf for the winning goal.
The idea of shooting the puck more often has been stressed by Sabres coach Lindy Ruff constantly over his 2 1/4 years with the team.
"If you just shoot the puck at the net, something good might happen," Ruff said. "He just shot the puck, didn't try to beat (Muir) one-on-one and kept going to the net."
"The goalie was crossed up," said Brown. "We had a few bounces and the puck went in. There are a lot of goals scored in this league that are broken plays or off mistakes. The old saying is throw the puck at the net and good things will happen. We had an opportunity. The defenseman made a good play and got it with his stick but the effort kind of knocked him off-balance and the puck came right back to me. I think he (the goalie) got confused but that's what happens when you bring the puck to the net."
"It was a funny bounce that came off the boards and kind of handcuffed me," said Passmore. "There's no excuse. It was a bad goal. You get (ticked) off that you lost a game on a cheesy goal like that. But the boys battled hard and we got a point."
Miroslav Satan scored the Sabres first two goals and the other Buffalo scorers were Stu Barnes and Michael Peca. This was the Sabres fourth win in five games and second straight road win. Before Wednesday's win in Dallas, the Sabres had been winless on the road.
On the first goal by Satan, he went down with Brown on a 2-on-1 charge down the ice. Satan suddenly cut to the middle and then shot the puck past Jocelyn Thibault to tie the game at one. Brown also assisted on Satan's second goal when he threaded the needle with a pass through a crowd of legs and skates and Miro sent a backhander past Thibault to put the Sabres up 2-1.
"I don't care about anything else. All that matters is we found a way to win this game," Satan said. "The last couple of games I couldn't get the puck behind the goal line. So I'm just glad I could help the team tonight."
Chicago outshot the Sabres 27-19 and actually scored first in this one as Eric Daze put one past Martin Biron on a powerplay. But the Sabres came back with three goals in the first period, 2 straight by Satan and Barnes.
The Black Hawks came back to tie it at 3-3 when Blair Atcheynum and Dean McAmmond were able to foil Biron.
The Sabres took a 4-3 lead when Michael Peca and Dixon Ward rushed up the ice in the third period and Peca finished it off by slipping a shot underneath Steve Passmore. That goal looked like the game winner until the Sabres Dixon Ward was given a questionable "holding the stick penalty" at the 18:47 mark of the third period. When the Black Hawks pulled Passmore, they had a 6-on-4 advantage. With only 19 seconds remaining, Tony Amonte put the puck past Biron to send it into overtime. And that set the stage for Brown's heroics.
"What I like is we're starting to score goals. That's what I like," Lindy Ruff said. "And some of our guys are getting some confidence with the puck. A lot of our problems were linked to not scoring. Now our offense has come around a little bit and it's starting to pay off."
The Sabres return home and host the New York Islanders tomorrow night. It is unclear if Ruff plans to start Biron or Dwayne Roloson. The feeling here is that Roloson will get is first start in some time.
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"They made a mistake and we got a good transition," said Brown. "Sanderson made a good pass. We hadn't been shooting the puck enough and I saw that I had room to get a shot off. The puck hits the boards and the side of the net and the goalie gets crossed up. After a few bounces, I just hammered it. I don't know if I hit his stick or my stick; I just know it went in."
Miro Satan scores the first of his two goals against Black Hawks
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