Capitals Edge Sabres 4-3 In OT

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 28, 1998 / 3:02 AM EDT / CBS Sportsline

Peter Bondra didn't have to worry about being in the goal crease this time.

Bondra scored on a 30-foot slap shot 9:37 into overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

"No, nobody was in the crease," Bondra said with a smile.

Bondra scored a controversial goal in Washington's 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2 that should not have counted because he had his skate in the crease before deflecting the puck over Dominik Hasek.

This time, he grabbed the puck near center ice and beat Hasek with a hard drive that bounced off the goaltender's glove and into the net, giving the Capitals a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

"I heard the guys screaming from the bench, `Just rip it. Shoot it,"' Bondra said. "It felt good on my stick. I just got a little lucky and it went in."

Richard Zednik scored two goals and had one assist for the Capitals, who have never been in the Stanley Cup Finals in their 24-year history. Bondra opened the scoring in the first period, and he also added an assist.

Donald Audette had one goal and an assist for the Sabres. Matthew Barnaby and Brian Holzinger had the other Buffalo goals. It was the Sabres' first playoff loss at home this year and marked the first time they have trailed in the playoffs.

"We avenged our loss at home," Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig said. "We came into Buffalo knowing these guys haven't lost at home. We beat them on their own turf. We got our home-ice (advantage) back, but we're not going to be happy with a split."

The Sabres have been to the Cup finals once, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975. The only other time they were this close was 1980, when they lost to the New York Islanders in the conference finals.

Game 4 will be played Saturday night in Buffalo.

Bondra had 52 goals during the regular season, and he has five in the playoffs. He has scored 10 goals in 15 career playoff games against Hasek, who allowed four goals on 30 shots.

"You don't need to see how he scored 52 goals," Buffao coach Lindy Ruff said. "He put a hurting on us tonight."

The Sabres were shaky early before scoring three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead in the second period before Zednik tied the game with his second power-play goal, setting up a scoreless third period and overtime.

Andrei Nikolishin, who assisted on three Washington goals, had the puck near the boards and sent a pass to the left circle to Zednik, whose one-timer blew past Hasek to the glove side.

"We were starting to get a little bit worried," Zednik said. "We knew we had to start picking it up. We turned it on in the third period, and in (overtime), we played great again."

For a while in the first period, it was all Capitals. Then it was all Sabres.

Buffalo put itself in the 2-0 hole before putting immense pressure on Washington and taking the lead when Holzinger jumped on a rebound with 8:48 left in the second.

Geoff Sanderson started the play when he swung around the net and attempted a wraparound against Kolzig. The puck bounced to Holzinger, who batted it into the top corner.

Barnaby tied the game 2-2 when he took Michal Grosek's pass from behind the net and redirected between Kolzig's legs 2:08 into the second period. Barnaby, who had just five goals in 72 games during the regular season, has seven in 12 playoff games.

"We showed a great work ethic to battle back, tie the game and go ahead," Sanderson said. "But we couldn't hold onto it."

The Sabres began their comeback with just more than five minutes left in the first period when Audette jumped on a loose puck and beat Kolzig to the stick side from just inside the left circle.

The Capitals couldn't have asked for a better position while building the two-goal lead on their first four shots against the Sabres, who were playing their first home game in 18 days. Now, Washington wants to win Buffalo's second home game in 20 days.

"You know how it is when you're a pro athlete -- you're pretty greedy," Kolzig said. "We want to get that third win on Saturday."