Sabres give Habs late Christmas present
By Rick Anderson
December 27, 2001

Sabres winger Vaclav Varada gets a shot off on Jose Theodore in the first period. The two were involved in a collision the last time they played that resulted in Doug Gilmour taking out Varada in his own self-styled justice.br>

[AP Photo/Don Heupel]

There was a festive post-Christmas mood in HSBC Arena. Outside, the snow was falling at a rate of an inch an hour, but inside, the fans were warm and energized by the hockey displayed by the Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres scored a late third period goal and an empty-netter to beat the Canadiens 3-1.

The last time these two teams met, there was a lot of bad blood between them as Vaclav Varada kneed Montreal goalie Jose Theodore in the head and the Canadiens' Doug Gilmour skated across the rink to take out Varada's knees in retaliation. Both players were suspended and the fans expected a showdown between the two again. Gilmour was a no-show in this game because of back spasms, so Varada had to go it alone. At the end of the game, the Habs tried to settle the score with Varada as they roughed him up behind the Canadiens net, with Craig Rivet instigating the Habs vengeance, but the Sabres were quick to respond. Rivet got a four minute penalty for roughing and that allowed the Sabres to score an empty netter at the very end.

This was a game the Sabres desperately needed if they didn't want to fall completely out of the playoff race. The Canadiens held the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and it was a 4 point game.

J.P. Dumont got credit for the first goal when he tipped a shot by Slava Kozlov at the right faceoff circle. Tim Connolly set up the play with some great moves and pass over to Kozlov. It was Dumont's first goal in 8 games.

Arron Asham tied it up at 7:30 of the second stanza when he took a pass from Yanic Perreault after the two came down on Mika Noronen on a two-on-one. Asham took the shot and Noronen slid out to make the save, but it went under his right arm and into the net. That turned out to be the only one that Noronen would allow on the night.

Curtis Brown, who has had a miserable season so far, finally netted not one but two goals to finish the Habs off for good. With Theodore making save after save, it was a long knuckleball shot by Brown from just inside the blue line that fooled the Habs goalie with just a little over 5 minutes remaining. It somehow got past him and it turned out to be the game winner. With the Habs shorthanded in the last minute of the game, they pulled Theodore and Brown got his second of the night with less than a tick on the clock.

Theodore played so well that he got the second star of the night, making 31 stops. Noronen was hardly tested, stopping 15 of 16 shots. But he seems to be a winner as he now has a 2-1-1 record this year and with the two wins at the start of last season, has a career NHL record of 4-1-1.

Noronen was not happy with the one goal he let in.

"I'm feeling more comfortable, but there are situations where I choose the wrong move, and I think I have less time than I really do," Noronen explained.

Noronen must be taking English lessons from Marty Biron as his interviews are starting to be protracted.

"I had 16 shots, and the last two periods I had four shots and I was a little bit scared," Noronen uttered. "We had one goal late, five minutes left, and I didn't really face any shots. But I didn't face any shots in those last five minutes either. So I think the guys were doing a great job today, and our defense blocked a lot of shots and it was a big thing for us."

The Sabres were targeting the Habs as they were in the final playoff spot in the East. If the Canadiens won, they would have been a full 8 points in front of Buffalo. The Sabres cut that in half and now hope to make a move up the ladder.

"That's the team we're looking at, we're trying to catch," explained Brown. "Obviously things weren't going our way there for quite some time and it's tough. Any time you can pick up a win when you're struggling, that's huge."

The Sabres took the Christmas break to step back and reflect. Now they are viewing the remaining games as a new season.

"After Toronto we had a good meeting and we said we need a fresh new start today," said Dumont. "That goes for everybody, for myself too. It feels pretty good to score a goal in a big win for us. That was really important for us tonight."

The Sabres D, which in games past has cost Buffalo quite a few games, buckled down and played the kind of game that won them the Jennings Trophy last year for the fewest goals allowed in the league.

"I thought in our own end we did a lot better job of finishing," lauded Ruff. "I thought all our defense did a better job in that area, where we eliminated cycles and they didn't have a lot of that controlled play where it was two or three passes. We got in and cut things off and finished guys and that eliminated a lot of those plays."

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