Sabres gift-wrap loss to Rangers
By Rick Anderson
October 8, 2001

The two Buffalo pro sports teams were quite charitable Sunday to the New York teams they were playing. In the spirit of the times, the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills both gift wrapped their respective games and gave it to the Jets and the Rangers. The Bills, losers to the Jets 42-36, had five turnovers which led to Jets touchdowns. The Sabres gave the Rangers an even bigger gift when they started Bob Essensa in goal. The result was a 5-4 victory for the home town Rangers as Essensa was beaten badly four times in just 23 minutes and 32 seconds.

Sabres goalie Bob Essensa makes sprawling save on Rangers' captain Mark Messier.

[AP Photo/Ron Frehm]

With 2:45 gone by in the overtime, Brian Leetch shot the puck off Essensa's arm and into the net to give the two New York teams a sweep Sunday.

"I thought I made the save," Essensa explained, "but it just kicked up. It was a bad bounce."

This was the Rangers home opener and with Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. It was a very special night indeed, especially for the fans who waived U.S. flags and got into the emotions that flowed during the pregame festivities. The World Trade Center had been demolished by terrorist hijackers just three weeks earlier and the Rangers honored the heroes who died on September 11th attempting to save lives. In the pregame ceremony, New York city firefighters and policemen were honored for their heroic deeds during and since that dark day in American history.

The game itself was kind of an afterthought in comparison to the opening ceremonies.

The Sabres had gained a 3-1 lead over the Rangers on goals by J.P. Dumont, Stu Barnes and Vaclav Varada in succession. Eric Lindros had gotten the Rangers only goal until the roof caved in on Essensa.

In the third period, Radek Dvorak scored to make it 4-3, but the man the Sabres got in exchange for Dominik Hasek, Slava Kozlov, scored his first goal as a Sabre to tie it. But that was only a slight setback as the Rangers were able to get the two points they desired when Leetch shot ricocheted off Essensa's arm.

Leave it to former Sabre Michal Grosek to start the Rangers' parade of goals as he scored on Essensa with just 47 seconds left in the second period. Then with less than a tick left on the clock, Andreas Johansson got it past Essensa with Lindros assisting. The Sabres argued in vain that time had run out. The Rangers now knew that they could score with ease on Essensa.

Essensa made 22 saves in a losing cause. He did make several spectacular stops, but wasn't strong when the Sabres needed him the most.

Sabres talk

The Rangers captain, Mark Messier, was taken aback by the pregame ceremony and the fact that the United States launched its retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan earlier that day.

"All on a day that we started fighting back as a country," Messier said. "I think it was an unbelievable, emotional night for everybody. It was a little bit of a strange feeling for everybody."

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff and GM Darcy Regier took the afternoon to visit Ground Zero where the World Trade Center once stood.

"I just felt compelled to go down there and look at it," commented Ruff. "You see it on TV, but you gotta see it in person just to put it all into perspective. It was more massive than what I expected. You looked on awnings and you still saw the remains of that big cloud of dust. There's street sweepers flooding the streets with water to continually clean it up. I found it hard at times to breathe down there. It's hard t imagine that we're three weeks removed from it."

As for the game, Ruff was obviously disappointed.

"We let them back into the game," Ruff said. "I thought we had them down and out. And overtime is a fickle situation."

Essensa may not get his chance to play for a long while, especially after his poor showing in New York. The Sabres rarely score 4 goals, especially on the road. This was a game the Sabres should have won had their had adequate goaltending.

"I felt fine," defended Essensa. "Certainly you don't like to give up five goals in your first outing with the team I need to clean things up in terms of communication with the team I'm still feeling them out and vice versa."

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