Buffalo Rides Hasek to Sweep

Many said Buffalo didn’t have a chance to beat favored Ottawa in the playoffs. Good thing for the Sabres that Dominik Hasek wasn’t listening.

“I don’t care what other people say,” Hasek said after making 40 saves to help seventh-ranked Buffalo complete a surprising playoff sweep of the No. 2 Ottawa Senators with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night.

But not even the optimistic Hasek spotted a sweep on the horizon.

“Nobody expected us to win 4-0,” said Hasek, whose team failed to beat Ottawa in five tries during the regular season, four of which ended in ties. “Nobody in this locker room expected it.”

Vaclav Varada scored two goals and Hasek, who recorded a team-record fourth career playoff shutout in Sunday’s 3-0 victory, had his shutout streak snapped at 144 minutes, 55 seconds on a goal by Jason York at 6:24 of the second period.

“We don’t just say it for the sake of hearing ourselves when we say we have an opportunity to go all the way,” said Sabre captain Michael Peca, whose team lost in the conference finals last year.

The Sabres once again smothered Ottawa’s leading scorer Alexei Yashin, who finished the series with no goals or assists but totaled a team-high five penalties. The Sabres’ winning goal, on a slap shot from the blue line by defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, came with Yashin in the penalty box for elbowing in the third period.

“Everybody has to face adversity,” said Yashin, shut down by Peca throughout the series. “The best thing I can do now is remember I gave the best for my team.”

The three goals against Hasek matched the entire number scored against the two-time MVP in the series’ first three games. Hasek gave up six goals on 162 shots in the series.

New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 2--Finally, after three games, the Devils proved they could defeat the Jaromir Jagr-less Penguins.

Sergei Brylin and Randy McKay scored 1:33 apart during a momentum-altering sequence, and McKay screened Penguin goaltender Tom Barrasso to set up another goal as the Devils evened the series, 2-2.

Brian Rolston scored his sixth short-handed goal--and the league-high 15th given up by Pittsburgh. And Scott Stevens restored the Devils’ two-goal lead in the third period by scoring three seconds before the end of a power play caused by a Pittsburgh bench error.

The Devils, who prematurely exited the Eastern Conference playoffs as the No. 1-seeded team the last two seasons and were threatening to do it again, regained home-ice advantage going into Game 5 Friday at East Rutherford, N.J.

The only difference then will be that the Penguins may have Jagr, the NHL’s three-time scoring champion and most creative offensive force, back in their lineup for the first time since a groin injury in Game 1.

Phoenix 2, St. Louis 1--Teppo Numminen’s power-play goal broke a second-period tie and the Coyote defense made it stand up at St. Louis to give Phoenix a 3-1 lead in the series.

Greg Adams also scored and Nikolai Khabibulin made 27 saves for the Coyotes, who have won three in a row since losing the opener at home. They can close out the series Friday at Phoenix.

The Blues’ Pascal Rheaume got his first goal of the playoffs and Grant Fuhr rebounded nicely from his Game 3 disaster, when he gave up four goals on 10 shots in a 5-4 loss. Fuhr didn’t give up a goal until the Coyotes’ 12th shot.

But the Coyotes put the clamps on high-scoring defenseman Al MacInnis, who entered the game with an NHL-leading eight points in the playoffs. MacInnis got little room to maneuver.

Just as in the regular season, home ice was no advantage for the Blues. St. Louis closed the season on a 14-4-1 road run, but was only 18-17-6 at the Kiel Center.

Notes

The NHL said it could not find sufficient evidence that Toronto’s Tie Domi directed a racial slur toward Philadelphia’s Sandy McCarthy during Monday’s playoff game. The league conducted interviews with players from both teams as well as officials and no support for McCarthy’s allegation could be found.