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Wednesday, Oct. 20 7:00pm ET
Predators rattle Sabres, Hasek | |||||
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- A shaky start led to an early exit for Dominik Hasek and another loss for the Buffalo Sabres. Hasek departed after allowing two goals in the first period and the Nashville Predators went on to beat the winless Sabres 4-3 Wednesday night. "I know I can play better," said Hasek, who has announced he will retire at the end of the season and move back to his native Czech Republic. Hasek allowed two goals on eight shots in the period and was replaced by Dwayne Roloson, who could stop neither Nashville's shots nor the boos as the Sabres (0-5-2) tied the longest winless start in franchise history. The 1990-91 team went 0-4-3. "He is not on his game," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said, referring to Hasek's being beaten by David Legwand just 46 seconds into the game and later in the first period by Sergei Krivokrasov. "With Dominik, when he's focused he's extremely focused. You can't say that focus is there." Buffalo, which fought back from a 4-1 deficit, also sank into a tie for the team's lowest point total after the first seven games with the 1993-94 Sabres (1-6-0). The Sabres have not won since they beat the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals last year. Cliff Ronning and Patric Kjellberg also scored for the Predators (3-3-1), and goalie Mike Dunham posted his third win in as many starts with 28 saves. Ronning also had two assists as the Predators climbed to .500 for only the second time in franchise history and the first time since splitting the first two games last season. Ruff said the intense emotion that Hasek, a two-time league MVP and Olympic gold medalist, normally displays seems to be gone. "He has struggled with his game," Ruff said. "Some of it could be mental. I don't see quite the fire that I saw. He'll usually explode when a bad one goes in." Told of Ruff's comments, Hasek said: "Let me think. Maybe that's right. I should probably be more fired up in practice and the games. ... I can't blame anyone but myself." The Sabres outshot the Predators 14-2 in the third and buzzed around the net in the final seconds, but couldn't get the tying goal. Geoff Sanderson scored his first goal of the season for Buffalo in the second period. Curtis Brown and Domenic Pittis scored in the third to bring the Sabres back to within a goal. Legwand, a 19-year-old rookie, scored his second goal of the season with a slap shot from the top of the right circle to the far side of Hasek. Hasek has a career mark of 2-11-2 in games in which he allowed a goal in the first minute of play, all but one of them since coming to the Sabres in a trade with Chicago in 1992. "He's the type of goalie who gets better as the shutout grows," Ronning said. "If you can get one early, sometimes he'll start guessing." Krivokrasov scored his second goal of the season for a 2-0 Nashville lead on the power play at 12:41 of the first. "You see a couple goals go in and it sucked the wind right out of us," Ruff said. The Predators lived up to their nickname by jumping on the struggling Sabres. "We knew they've been having trouble lately," said Nashville defenseman Bob Boughner. "Luckily, we got one quick one; and when we start quickly, we usually carry it through." Sanderson snapped a 12-game regular-season scoreless streak with his goal at 8:55 of the second period. Sanderson beat Dunham with a slap shot from the left wing to make it 2-1. Ronning scored with a low wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle for a 3-1 lead at 10:15 of the second, and Kjellberg's shot from the top of the left circle sent the Predators into the third with a 4-1 lead. Brown scored on the power play at 9:14 of the third, and Pittis batted in a loose puck in front at 10:09. It was the first NHL goal for Pittis, a 25-year-old rookie. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Nashville Clubhouse Buffalo Clubhouse  NHL East: Sabres searching for identity
RECAPS Nashville 4 Buffalo 3
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