Peca’s Isles put Sabres into coma
By Rick Anderson
March 13, 2002
Chris Osgood, the Wings goalie last season, was cut before the season started as the Wings could not get anything for him as they established Hasek as their starting goalie. The Isles picked up Osgood without having to compensate Detroit and he is one of the reasons for the big turnaround for this team. Osgood faced 28 shots, but mainly had an easy game for his 4th shutout of the season.
"It was a big game for us," emphasized Osgood. "We didn't want them to gain any more ground on us than they already have."
By losing, the Sabres not only took a detour from on their journey to the playoffs, but their hopes may have been completely derailed. The lethargic effort against the Islanders was certainly not what the doctor ordered. In fact, the Sabres had reverted back to the form that got them in their plight in the first place.
After winning 3 straight games, fans were starting to believe again. Could it possibly be that the Sabres had finally woken up, that they were now suddenly a team to be reckoned with? However, fans who knew the true character of this team knew that it would only be a matter of time before the REAL Sabres showed their hideous faces again. And the Sabres were their in their most hideous forms Tuesday in a crucial game against the Islanders. They were the exact same team that lost 3 times to Atlanta and twice against Columbus along with numerous losses to other bottom-of-the-barrel teams. The Sabres showed their true identity once again, a team that is exactly where they deserve to be, in 12th place in the Eastern Conference.
The game marked the return of former Sabres captain Michael Peca to Buffalo. His reception was much worse than what Hasek received from the fans as Peca was greeted with the Bronx cheer every time he had the puck. Outside of the obvious roar of disapproval Peca got from the hometown crowd, Peca's return was a rather quiet one. He did not deliver any of the "Freight train" monster hits he was so famous for while he played for the Sabres and he did not figure into any of the three Isles scores. However, his very presence may have been the stabilizing factor that allowed the Isles to play their patient, if not boring, style that put not only the fans but the Sabres themselves to sleep.
Peca had been nervously awaiting his first game at the HSBC Arena since a playoff game on April 2000.
"I had butterflies all day," admitted Peca. "I was sitting here in the locker room right across from the clock, and it was like every tick was a repeat of my heartbeat."
While he may have been taken aback by the unrelenting booing every time he touched the puck, Peca didn't find fault with the fans who had supported him for so many years while he wore the Sabres colors.
"People are human and they've got feelings, whether I agree with them or not," related Peca. "One thing the Lord gave us was free will. They're going to express whatever opinion they have. They're passionate. For the most part, they're all upset that I'm not here anymore."
After some rather humdrum play throughout the majority of the first period, the Isles got on the board late in the period. Kip Miller got the Isles on the board when a screen shot went over Sabres goalie Martin Biron's right shoulder. He took the shot from the faceoff circle and was surprised it went in with only 2:30 remaining in the first.
"I couldn't even see the net," admitted Miller. "It was through a couple of screens. It happened to go in."
The Isles seemed to find the weak spot in Biron's armor when Dave Scatchard sailed a shot over Biron's left shoulder with exactly one minute left in the second stanza. Both Scatchard and Miller took wrist shots at Biron.
With Biron pulled for the extra attacked late in the game, Jason Blake stole the puck and broke in alone for an easy goal to ice the game.
There seems to be a debate over the effort the Sabres put forth against the Isles. Some in the media say it was there and the Islanders were just the better team, or capitalized on 3 opportunities, while the Sabres just couldn't bury it. In this corner, the Sabres effort was definitely not as intense as the past three games where they combined for 13 goals and 1 against. Maybe the Sabres showed more effort and desire than they did in their previous 3-0 loss to Edmonton last week, but it clearly isn’t enough to help propel them into the playoffs if that is the kind of effort we can expect from now on.
If people are satisfied with the lackluster effort displayed against the Islanders, then they can expect the team to be on the outside looking in when playoff time comes. With 17 games remaining, the Sabres will have to establish the desperation mode they had when they shutout the Isles and Montreal last week and topped it off with an emotional 5-1 win over Detroit. Anything less than that will result in an early golfing season.
Stu Barnes tried to put the game in perspective.
"It was a huge game," Sabres captain Stu Barnes said. "We're trying to climb up and get better. We said that the three games that we played last week didn't solve all of our problems. It showed tonight. We've got to find that consistency, we've got to find the effort, and it wasn't there tonight."
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff knows that by losing, his team has shot itself in the foot once again, just when they seemed to be making progress.
"The rest of the season is going to be an outright dogfight," Ruff said. "There are going to be games like tonight that we're going to have to win. Not every game is going to be where we score a couple goals early and we're off to the races. We're going to have to grind some out, we're going to have to win some in the third period. We're not a team that's going to dominate. We can scratch and claw and win lots of games by just winning ugly."
New York coach Isles coach Peter Laviolette threw a verbal dart at the Sabres.
"The Sabres just couldn't get a sniff," Laviolette said. "It seemed like no matter what they tried, we were a step ahead of them."
Biron tried to look past the loss and attempt to get the team back on the right track.
"I don't think we're going to go back home and hang ourselves," said Biron. "We worked really hard last week. It's a loss. We have to look past it. We're going on the road. You never know. It can change tremendously."
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What a difference a game makes! It was like night and day. The Buffalo Sabres shot down the high-flying Red Wings and made Dominik Hasek look foolish during Sunday's game. On Tuesday night, they couldn't even put one past the Wings castaway goalie and reverted back to their listless ways. The Sabres, desperate for points in their frantic attempt to make the playoffs, looked like the Wings did on Sunday, tired and slow as the New York Islanders routed them 3-0 in Buffalo's HSBC Arena.
The two Islander goal scores get into the action during the first period. Dave Scatchard (38), who scored New York's second goal, gets the puck out from a scrum with Kip Miller fighting off Sabres defenseman James Patrick.
[AP Photo/David Duprey]
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