| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- The Buffalo Sabres welcomed back Michael Peca and Alexei Zhitnik and, just as importantly, Miroslav Satan's scoring touch.
Satan ended a season-high 13-game scoring drought with two goals, lifting the Sabres into eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
|  | | Buffalo's Dominik Hasek had 20 saves, including this one on Calgary's Jeff Shantz. |
"I'm just a guy who scored two goals after a 13-game slump, so I don't think I'm back," Satan said.
Ask him again, he said, if he continues to help lead the team into the playoffs.
"Maybe then, I'll consider myself being back."
Jay McKee snapped a 2-2 tie with 2:08 left in regulation while Satan sealed the win, scoring on a breakaway 57 seconds later as the Sabres are 5-0-2 against Calgary, dating to Oct. 6, 1996.
Geoff Sanderson also scored, while Stu Barnes and Maxim Afinogenov each had two assists for the Sabres, who have won three straight.
Marc Bureau and rookie Jeff Cowan scored for the short-handed Flames, who were missing three regulars, including second-leading scorer Jarome Iginla, who injured his knee in Wednesday's 2-2 tie at Detroit.
The Flames' playoff hopes grew slimmer, as they remain in 11th place in the West, six points behind the eighth-place San Jose Sharks. It didn't help that they were also missing Phil Housley, their defensive scoring leader, who was home in Minnesota after his mother died earlier in the day.
"You can't be disappointed with how your team played," Flames coach Brian Sutter said. "It was a tough hockey game. At this time of year, you say it was a game of inches. It was a very hard, tough
game."
Afinogenov set up McKee's go-ahead goal. Working his way around the Flames net, Afinogenov hit McKee at the left point with a pass. Turning toward the net, McKee blasted a shot that beat goalie Fred Brathwaite on the short side.
It was a tight and chippy game throughout.
After both teams traded goals in the first three minutes, Cowan put the Flames ahead eight minutes into the third.
Sanderson tied it with 10:14 left in regulation.
Peca was back after missing seven games with a dislocated shoulder, while Zhitnik returned after missing six with a broken finger.
Peca, among the NHL's hardest checkers, did not shy away from physical play. In the first, he hammered Bureau behind the Sabres net. Bureau needed help to get off the ice and did not return, complaining of dizziness and wooziness.
Then, six minutes into the second, Peca briefly sent Valeri Bure to the dressing room after being leveled with a right forearm to the chin.
The Flames were down to 10 reserve skaters before Bure returned to the bench about three minutes later.
"I didn't want to be tentative," Peca said. "I wanted to get some emotion on our side and put to rest any hesitation in my own mind about what my limits are."
Satan's first goal of the night was his 30th of the season and 100th as a member of the Sabres.
The goal inspired a curious celebration from Satan, who flipped off his glove and smashed it a few times with his stick.
Laughing about it, Satan said, he had decided before the game that he would "do something stupid" to celebrate in the event he ended his drought.
And why smash up his glove?
"I don't know," Satan replied. "Should I beat up one of my teammates?"
Doug Gilmour had an assist, extending his point streak to six games, giving him two goals and nine points since the Sabres acquired him from Chicago.
| |
ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Calgary Clubhouse
Buffalo Clubhouse
RECAPS
Florida 3
Boston 1
Buffalo 4
Calgary 2
Ottawa 3
Toronto 2
Los Angeles 3
Philadelphia 2
Washington 4
NY Rangers 1
Detroit 6
Nashville 3
Colorado 4
Phoenix 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Flames' goalie Fred Brathwaite stops Curtis Brown.
avi: 771 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
