Sabres shut down Peca and the Isles
By Rick Anderson
March 8, 2002
Erik Rasmussen came out of a horrendous slump and scored two goals for the Sabres. Two other slumping Sabres, Chris Gratton and J.P. Dumont also scored goals as the Sabres breezed by the Isles. Michael Peca, the former Sabres captain who was traded to the Islanders this summer in exchange for Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt, thought he scored a goal on his former teammates. He broke in all alone on Sabres goalie Martin Biron, hit the crossbar with his shot and it plopped into the crease where Biron fell on it. A replay proved that the puck never went in.
It was a game where the Sabres wanted to make up for their embarrassment to the Oilers two nights before. The certainly atoned for some mortal hockey sins. Biron himself came up with another solid performance, notching only his second shutout of the season. Biron made 26 saves and seems ready to take most of the action until the end of the season.
The Sabres scored the winner when Stu Barnes threaded a perfect pass to Gratton out if front at 13:32 of the first period. Gratton beat Chris Osgood with a great shot and the rout was under way Under a minute later, Rasmussen notched his first of two. Then Dumont got the Sabres up 3-0 at the 18:37 mark of the first on a powerplay goal.
"That second goal was a big one,"said Biron. "We just scored the power-play goal, and to get that one, it gave us a lot of confidence."
Barnes got the Sabres third powerplay goal of the night at the 17:49 mark in the second stanza and Rasmussen rounded out the scoring in the third period.
Peca thought the Isles outplayed the Sabres while they were at full strength.
"We were pretty much dictating the game 5-on-5," Peca said, "but when you give up power-play goals, you lose discipline and focus."
Rasmussen, who hadn’t scored in 6 games, reflected on his scoring drought.
"When you haven't been producing, the worst pressure is the pressure you put on yourself,” said Rasmussen. “You can kill yourself. But for guys to come out and do it, guys who haven't been doing it, it's a good sign. The big thing is all the little things went right. The power play is going to win us games down the stretch.”
Biron, who was about the only player who showed up against the Oilers even though he was pulled, had some thought about his team.
"Everyone realized if you don't come out to play that game (against the Isles) you might as well say bye-bye to the game against Montreal, which is twice as important," Biron related. "Right off the get-go we played our system. We were active, we were taking the body and we didn't take any physical abuse. Everyone came out to play."
HOME
SEASON'S RESULTS
SABRE TALK MESSAGE BOARD
NEWSROOM
99 PLAYOFFS
Maybe Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff should conduct all his practices without any pucks. After Monday night’s embarrassing 3-0 loss to Edmonton, a furious Ruff made his troops practice a full 40 minutes without any pucks. He cited that the Sabres didn’t shoot the puck anyway, so why bother with the pucks. Thursday night, the Sabres took all their frustrations out on the New York Islanders as they clobbered them 5-0 in Uniondale. It was a complete turnaround for the Sabres who are fighting for their playoff lives.
Islanders' Kenny Jonsson tries to clear the puck out of the crease from goalie Garth Snow, while Sabres sniper J.P. Dumont drives in to get the puck.
[AP Photo/Ed Betz]
THE PLAYERS
STATISTICS
SCHEDULE
PROSPECTS
LIVE GAME RADIO
HISTORY
TEAM INFO
PHOTO GALLERY
MULTIMEDIA
SABRES POLL
TROPHY CASE
LINKS
THE STAFF
E-MAIL SABRESWORD
Copyright © 2002 Sabres Central, all rights reserved
