Senators Win, but Learn Alfredsson Lost to Injury

The news wasn’t good for either team Saturday night at Kanata, Ontario, where Ottawa shut out Buffalo, 4-0.

The Sabres fell to 1-6-2 as Dominik Hasek remained winless for the season. The Senators, meanwhile, learned that captain Daniel Alfredsson will be sidelined eight to 10 weeks with a knee injury suffered in a victory over Colorado Thursday night.

Alfredsson sustained a third-degree sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee, but won’t have to undergo surgery.

At least the Senators didn’t need him against the Sabres.

Ron Tugnutt stopped 19 shots for his 12th career shutout, and Marian Hossa scored two goals and assisted on another.

The rough start for Hasek (0-4-1) and the Stanley Cup runners-up Sabres continued, as Buffalo was outshot 30-9 after two periods and 35-19 overall.

“We gave up two goals in the first period, then played like the game was over,� Hasek said. “We were playing the best team in our conference. When it got to 3-0, it was over.�

Detroit 1, Chicago 0--Supported by tight defensive play, Chris Osgood stopped 17 shots for his second shutout of the season, leading the Red Wings at Chicago.

Brendan Shanahan’s goal early in the second period was all the Red Wings needed offensively to extend their winning streak to four and unbeaten string to six (5-0-1). Overall, Detroit improved to 6-1-1. With the loss, the Blackhawks dropped to 0-4-4 and tied a team record with an eight-game winless streak to start a season. In 1953-54, the Blackhawks got off to an 0-7-1 start.

Nashville 4, Edmonton 3--Tom Fitzgerald and Greg Johnson each had a goal and an assist at Nashville, Tenn., as the Predators went over .500 for the first time in franchise history.

The second-year Predators, who have won three in a row, are 4-3-1. Mike Dunham made 32 saves to improve to 4-0-0. Edmonton has lost three in a row.

St. Louis 3, New Jersey 1--Pavol Demitra’s goal with three minutes 10 seconds left was the difference at St. Louis as the Blues extended their winning streak to four.

Demitra took a pass from Michal Handzus at the top of right faceoff circle and fired a shot that deflected off New Jersey goalie Chris Terreri’s left shoulder and trickled behind him. Jochen Hecht added an empty net goal with 55.9 seconds left.

Carolina 3, Pittsburgh 2--Bates Battaglia scored with 2:06 left in the third period to give the Hurricanes a victory over the injury-depleted Penguins at Pittsburgh in the last of a nine-game road trip to open the season.

The Hurricanes finished the trip with a 4-2-3 record. The Penguins, who lost No. 1 goaltender Tom Barrasso to a knee injury in the season’s second game, played Saturday without their top three centers. Martin Straka has a bruised knee and joined Jan Hrdina and Robert Lang on the injured list.

New York Islanders 2, Vancouver 2--Brad Isbister’s two goals and Felix Potvin’s 32 saves helped the Islanders to a tie at Uniondale, N.Y.

The Islanders had an apparent goal in overtime disallowed. Jorgen Jonsson put the puck in the net at 1:50, but video review disallowed it, showing the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line.

Toronto 3, Montreal 2--Sergei Berezin skated the length of the ice to score late in the second period for the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Brian Savage continued his early-season tear with his league-leading 10th goal for Montreal.

Colorado 3, Atlanta 2--Joe Sakic scored 40 seconds into overtime for the Avalanche at Atlanta. Sakic, the Avalanche’s scoring leader with 12 points, slipped the puck past goaltender Damian Rhodes to register a point for the ninth time in Colorado’s 10 games.

Tampa Bay 2, Calgary 1--Dan Kesa scored the tiebreaking goal with 9:47 left in the third period at Tampa, Fla., as the Lightning ended a five-game winless streak. Tampa Bay goalie Dan Cloutier made 35 saves, including a spectacular stop with an outstretched pad on Marc Savard in the first period.

Boston 3, San Jose 1--Rookie goaltender John Grahame stopped 31 shots at San Jose and the Bruins ended a season-opening nine-game winless streak. Boston was 0-5-4 in its first nine games, matching the team record for the longest winless streak to start a season. The Bruins started the 1964-65 season 0-8-1.

Phoenix 2, Washington 2--Jeremy Roenick scored twice in the third period at Phoenix as the Coyotes ran their unbeaten streak to five games. Roenick scored a shorthanded goal three minutes into the period, then took a pass from Keith Tkachuk on a 2-on-1 and beat goaltender Olaf Kolzig with a wrist shot more than six minutes later.

Around the League

Florida goaltender Trevor Kidd signed a long-term contract that will keep him with the team through the 2002-03 season. The deal, agreed to before training camp in August, is for four-years and $8.4 million, including a base salary of $1.5 million this season and $2.3 million each of the next three years.