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Saturday, Mar. 18 9:00pm ET
Sabres close road trip on positive note | |||||
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BOX SCORE
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Vaclav Varada and the Buffalo Sabres approached their game against the Calgary Flames with a sense of urgency. Varada scored twice in the Sabres' 5-1 victory over the Flames on Saturday night. Dixon Ward, Curtis Brown, and Maxim Afinogenov also scored for Buffalo, which moved within one point of the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo and New York each have nine games left, but Pittsburgh has 11. "We needed the points tonight; I guess maybe more than them," Varada said. "It's a tough battle in our conference, but some teams are still struggling -- Carolina is losing, Montreal isn't playing that well. It's right there for us, we just have to do it." Jeff Shantz scored for the Flames, who have lost six straight, including four in a row at home. Dominik Hasek made 30 saves for the Sabres, after giving up six goals in a loss to San Jose on Wednesday night. He was treated to an impromptu ovation from his teammates when he returned to the dressing room after the game. "I got back to the dressing room a few minutes late and they gave me a big applause, it was funny," Hasek said with a laugh. "I haven't played well lately so I guess that's why they did it." Buffalo won for just the second time in their last 10 road games (2-6-2). "I've been struggling, the whole team's been struggling, especially on the road where twice in a row we gave up six goals," Hasek said. "Tonight, the defense helped; played great. They helped me out a lot and made my job easier. It was the way we should play to make the playoffs." Chris Gratton and Vladimir Tsyplakov each contributed a pair of assists for Buffalo, and Jason Woolley had an assist to extend his points streak to six games. Varada opened the scoring 1:01 into the second after a Calgary turnover. Flames defenseman Derek Morris fell while carrying the puck out of the Calgary end. Gratton pounced on the loose puck and passed it to Tsyplakov, who got it to Varada for a one-timer that beat Grant Fuhr. Gratton has one goal and five assists in five games since being traded to Buffalo from Tampa Bay. Buffalo made it 3-0 when Ward and Brown scored 47 seconds apart midway through the second. Ward's goal at 12:21 came with Calgary's Marc Savard in the penalty box for slashing at Hasek's glove after the Buffalo goalie covered the puck. Hasek lost his shutout bid 4:30 into the third, when Shantz poked the puck past him. Afinogenov made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 12:54, and Varada scored on a breakaway with six seconds left. With 10 games remaining, Calgary trails the eighth-place San Jose Sharks by seven points in the Western Conference. "We're in a slump right now and obviously not helping ourselves out at all in the standings," Savard said. "Tonight they got one goal and we seemed to just fold. "One little thing seems to set us back and we can't let that happen, we have to keep going." | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Buffalo Clubhouse Calgary Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 3 Pittsburgh 2
Buffalo 5
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