Dominator Role Spread Around
WASHINGTON — It wasn’t a Dominik Hasek highlight-reel shutout, rather the work of a Buffalo Sabre defense that choked the attack of the rattled Washington Capitals.
Hasek had to make only 19 unspectacular saves in Buffalo’s 2-0 victory Saturday night in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals to get his first playoff shutout in four years and third of his career. The players in front of Hasek controlled the Capitals on five power plays and the Sabres didn’t allow a decent scoring chance over the last two periods.
“The thing with this team, we’ve got guys . . . [who] enjoy going out there to kill penalties,†said center Michael Peca, who along with Dixon Ward and Curtis Brown has been instrumental in the Sabres not allowing a power-play goal in three games. “We don’t look at it as something like, ‘Man, we’ve got to dig ourselves out of a hole.’ We go out there and have fun. I think that’s why we’ve had some success.â€
Both goals came in first two minutes of the second period, with Michal Grosek and Miroslav Satan taking advantage of defensive lapses to help Buffalo win its eighth consecutive game in its best playoff run since 1980. The goals shook the veteran Capitals and energized the young Sabres, who had made some defensive adjustments after being outplayed in the first period.
The Adam Oates line had created several lukewarm scoring chances on the Capital power play in the first period, but Peca and Ward changed their forechecking assignments and shut down the passing lanes in the neutral zone. The result: Washington managed only two shots on three consecutive man-advantage situations in 11 minutes in the second period.
The scoring in what had been billed as Round 1 of the goalie showdown of year, Hasek vs. Olaf Kolzig, came down to two simple plays. In essence, Grosek and Satan assisted on their own goals.
On Buffalo’s first offensive push in the second period, Grosek chipped and charged unchecked from the blue line. The puck caromed off the boards behind the net and right back to Grosek, whose casual-looking wrist shot from the right circle found the space between Kolzig’s pads 31 seconds into the period for his sixth playoff goal.
Satan scored 1:24 later by reversing his momentum to retrieve his own rebound. Kolzig stopped the first shot from Satan, who had skated in from the left side, but the Capital goaltender and defensemen Brendan Witt were both sprawled on the ice and couldn’t find the puck. Satan hit the brakes, did a 360-degree turn to return to the crease and knocked in his sixth goal of the playoffs.
