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 Not just a great goalie Sabres head home with 2-0 lead over Senators
Posted: Saturday April 24, 1999 09:29 PM
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- The upstart Buffalo Sabres are at it again, giving a favored opponent fits in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And it's not just Dominik Hasek's acrobatic saves that are throwing off the Ottawa Senators. The seventh-seeded Sabres returned home with a 2-0 series lead over No. 2 Ottawa in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, looking like lottery winners with Friday's 3-2 double-overtime victory. The teams play Games 3 and 4 in Buffalo on Sunday and Tuesday. The Sabres have been criticized as a bad team with a great goalie. "There's been times this year when we've been a bad team," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "What's frustrating for a lot of teams is our key player plays 60 minutes a game. But we've got a great supporting cast, and there are some guys who are starting to stick their heads up and get noticed." Miroslav Satan sent Friday's game into overtime and then won it by knocking in Jason Woolley's rebound. Joe Juneau, playing in his first game Friday since recovering from a concussion, added a goal and two assists. And Sabres captain Michael Peca has done all but sit on Alexei Yashin. The Sabres have ridden Hasek's 88 saves as Ottawa now faces the difficult task of winning a seven-game series after losing the first two games at home. "We were hoping just to win one game and now we've won both," Satan said. "We just have to keep playing hard and stay patient." The Senators hope to become the first team since the 1966 Montreal Canadiens to come back after losing the first two games of a series at home. "It can be done," Senators coach Jacques Martin said. "We have to get some more goals, but I think when we look back there's a lot of good things we did and we just have to finish better around the net." Ottawa won just three of its last 10 regular season games and dropped the first game of the series to the Sabres 2-1 Wednesday. The Sabres are trying not to indulge in overconfidence. "Our focus is to keep our feet in the ground," said Ruff, whose team upset the Flyers in the first round on its way to the conference finals last season. For a second game in a row, Yashin, the Ottawa captain, was held without a point under Peca's close checking. "I'm sure his spirits were hurt, but a guy with his talent isn't going to be kept down too long," Peca said. "We still think it's going to be a very difficult series," Ruff said. "They have one of the best road records in the league and they're a team that can frustrate you from game to game. And the pressure is off them now." Juneau, acquired just before the trading deadline to add spark to the Sabres' sputtering offense, suffered a concussion April 13 when he was hit by Philadelphia's Dan McGillis. He was so groggy afterward that he could barely sit up for the team picture, and was finally cleared to play Thursday.
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