Sabres fold in Atlanta
By Rick Anderson
February 27, 2002
This was a game the Sabres could have scored as many as 8 goals. But goal scoring is something the Sabres have had a hard time achieving for the past few years. Buffalo outshot Atlanta 34-22 but came up empty in points as the Thrashers beat the Sabres for the 3rd time in 4 games, winning the season series going away.
The Sabres opened their season with a 2-1 loss at home to Atlanta. It was only fitting that they finished the season series the same way. The game against the Thrashers was a perfect example of how the season has gone so far for the Sabres. They sometimes get up and play stellar against the strong teams, but they have been beaten all too often by weak teams like Atlanta, the Columbus, Florida and Tampa Bay. Those are crucial points and if they had reversed the series with the Thrashers, Buffalo would be close to a playoff spot right now. As it is, the Sabres may have an extended off season and team owner John Rigas will be complaining about lost revenue.
As bad as this game ended up, for awhile the Sabres were up 1-0 and looked like they may squeak out a victory. Tim Connolly got the Sabres on the scoreboard when he clanked one off the inside crossbar and he raised his arms in celebration while the play continued. Finally when the play stopped, they reviewed it upstairs and it was ruled a goal.
The game’s deciding moment came when Sabres goalie Martin Biron made an incredible save near the end of the second period. Alexei Zhitnik, instead of clearing it to the corner when he got the rebound, cleared the puck off the boards right to Frantisek Kaberle at the point. With the time about to expire, Kaberle shot somehow got past Biron to tie up the game with just 0.9 seconds remaining. That goal would change the momentum completely in the final period.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff wasn’t too upset over that play.
"We made a simple mistake," said Ruff. "I thought Zhitnik could have had Martin Biron cover it. Then that play would have been over."
Milan Hnilicka backed up Dominik Hasek in the Olympics for the Czech Republic. The way he played on Tuesday, he could have been the starter. Hnilicka made 33 saves and was clearly the best goalie on the ice in Atlanta. He stonewalled the Sabres throughout the game, especially in the third period when the Sabres put 9 shots on goal and were close to scoring right before Atlanta got the game-winner. Hnilicka made an outstanding save on Rhett Warrener and the play went quickly down the opposite way as went down on a 2-on-1 with Dany Heatley alonside Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk blasted a long shot past Biron and the Thrashers never looked back. They had their winning goal and won the season series. The goal came with just over 3 minutes to play and the Sabres could not get another puck past Hnilicka.
The Sabres were licking their wounds after the game and wondering why they had such a hard time beating the worst team in the NHL this year. It was a crucial game for the Sabres playoff hopes and it may have knocked them out completely, even if they are still mathematically still in it.
"There's a lot of reasons for us to have to win this game, with the situation we're in points-wise in the standings we wanted to get off to a good start coming out of the break," related Stu Barnes.
"You realize you can't afford to lose games right now. Bottom line, big picture, we gotta get the points but we have to move forward."
Ruff was very disappointed to say the least. He may be looking over his shoulder to see if the Turk is sneaking up on him.
To say this has been a disappointing season is an understatement. Even though the Sabres traded away such stars as Michael Peca and Hasek, the core of the team has remained practically the same. With it becoming more clear that the upper management is not going to make any beneficial trades, the chore of getting the team into the playoffs rests on Ruff’s shoulders.
"This hurts a lot," Ruff said. "There's nothing to be happy about. We didn't win the game and that's the bottom line. You win any way you can ... and we didn't get the job done."
Ruff saw numerous scoring chances go by the wayside.
"It's really disappointing with the chances we created and the odd-numbered situations we got and we didn't take advantage," bemoaned Ruff. "Players get paid the money to put the puck in the net. Those opportunities gotta go in."
Erik Rasmussen knows what a monumental task it is now going to be to make the playoffs.
"We look up at the scoreboard and see those things flash by," Rasmussen said. "Every game's do or die, must-win. It's something we shouldn't even have to talk about. If we don't start winning early on, we're going to find ourselves 15 to 20 points out and then we're done."
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Sabres fans have just been waiting for the Sabres to make “the move.” They have been waiting and wishing for the moment when the Sabres finally awake and make that final drive to capture a playoff spot. Tuesday night in Atlanta, the Sabres not only didn’t start the drive to that final playoff spot, they may have just blew any chance they had of making them this season as the Atlanta Thrashers beat Buffalo 2-1.
Sabres goalie Martin Biron is in shock after Atlanta Thrashers left wing Ilya Kovalchuk scores the game winning goal with 3:06 remaining in the game.
[AP Photo/Gregory Smith]
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