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 Hasek out for Game 2 Roloson gets second straight playoff start against Leafs
Posted: Tuesday May 25, 1999 02:37 PM
TORONTO (AP) -- Dominik Hasek won't play in Game 2 of the NHL's Eastern Conference finals Tuesday night. The Sabres' star goaltender hasn't been declared out for the series because of his strained groin. But coach Lindy Ruff said that Dwayne Roloson will get another start as Buffalo tries to extend its lead to 2-0 over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Roloson, who won Game 1, will be backed up by Martin Biron. Hasek didn't practice Tuesday, and Ruff said the team will see if treatment and medication make a difference. "We'll see how that makes him feel," Ruff said after the morning practice. "We're going to try anything." The Sabres have another problem on the medical front, but nobody is predicting a return date for Miroslav Satan, the team's leading scorer. "You don't prepare for what goaltender is in the net," Maple Leafs defenseman Bryan Berard said Monday after practice at the Air Canada Centre. "Our game plan with Hasek or Dwayne Roloson is to get as many pucks at the net as possible and look for rebounds, screens or tips. We have to tighten up defensively. If we sharpen up defensively, we should be fine." The Leafs, in pursuit of their first Stanley Cup since 1967, will try to bounce back again after opening with a home loss for the third straight series. In both other cases, against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, they won the second game. "We're desperate now," Leafs center Steve Sullivan said. "We have to win Game 2." The Maple Leafs were offered a gift when Hasek, the NHL's most valuable player the past two seasons, missed Game 1 Sunday. But turnovers and a shaky performance by goalie Curtis Joseph added up to a 5-4 loss for Toronto and home-ice advantage for Buffalo in the best-of-7 series. Toronto now gets another chance to test Roloson, a journeyman obtained last July as a free agent after spending parts of two seasons with the Calgary Flames. Hasek returned to Buffalo on Sunday night for tests, including a bone scan that showed no serious injury. Joseph is ready for another chance to stifle a Buffalo team that is still without Satan, who hasn't played since the first round when a teammate's shot struck and bruised his right ankle. Toronto led the league in scoring during the regular season and started out Sunday's game by luring the tight-checking Sabres into a shootout. The strategy backfired for the Leafs, whose costly turnovers led to three Buffalo goals. "We scored four goals, and that should be enough to win, but we didn't play well defensively," Berard said. "If we get back to our game where we're strong defensively and still a threat offensively, then they'll have to set up the trap, and that will work to our advantage," Sullivan said. Although Joseph allowed five goals on just 21 shots, nobody blamed him for the loss. "Five goals did go in, and we're not pleased with that," Joseph said. "I don't think there were any softies. They made some good plays, but I didn't steal any out of the net, either." "If he thinks he played a bad game, he knows in his heart what he has to do in the next game," Leafs wing Steve Thomas said. Joseph goes into Game 2 with a 2.05 goals-against average, which ranks him third among the four starting playoff goalies left in the playoffs. But he's only as good as his defense. "We had to adjust in the last two series and play a much stronger defensive game," Thomas said. "When you play good defense, it creates a lot of opportunities." Mats Sundin, who scored twice in Game 1 and has six goals and six assists in the playoffs for the Leafs, also stressed defense. "Defense gave us success in the first two rounds," Sundin said. "A lack of it cost the game the other night."
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