Hasek Dynamite in Sabres' Victory

December 23, 1998 / 11:51 PM EST / CBS/AP

Another cold December night. Another win for the Buffalo Sabres and goaltender Dominik Hasek.

Hasek continued his December dominance, recording a 2-0 shutout over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night. The win moves the Sabres into first place in the Northeast Division with 41 points, just ahead of Toronto. The Sabres trail only Dallas and New Jersey in points.

"I'm glad tomorrow is Christmas Eve," said Hasek, whose team gets two days off and then plays three games in five nights starting with the Devils on the road Saturday. "After a win it's much more fun."

Brian Holzinger and Miroslav Satan scored for the Sabres, who extended their unbeaten streak against the Lightning to nine games (8-0-1), including a five-game winning streak.

Lightning goalie Bill Ranford made 20 saves as Tampa Bay dropped to 8-22-3. "They had some chances, but they don't have any big goal scorers," Hasek said.

Hasek made 38 saves, including 16 in the second period and 13 in the third. "This guy is God," Lightning coach Jacques Demers said of Hasek, who weathered 13:46 minutes of Tampa Bay power plays including 1:13 of a two-man advantage. "He's on a different planet."

But there also was some luck involved in the victory.

"Dominik made some great saves, and we were fortunate on the two goals that we did get," Holzinger said.

Hasek recorded the 39th shutout of his career, and the 15th in the month of December. He has three shutouts and an 8-1-1 record so far this month.

He was named player of the month by the NHL for December last season and has been named player of the week twice this month.

Hasek leads the NHL in wins with 17 and in shutouts with six. The Sabres have allowed an NHL-best 18 goals in 14 home games this season.

Both teams were playing their fourth game in six nights and were a little sluggish at the start.

The Sabres scored the first goal on the power play at 16:29 of the first period. Dixon Ward crossed the blue line and launched a shot from the faceoff circle to the left of Ranford, who made the initial stop but lost sight of the rebound. Holzinger tapped it in between the goalie's legs.

"Dixon made a great shot, and I just tried to go to the net," Holzinger said.

Five of Holzinger's 11 goals five have come in December.

Satan added a goal 56 seconds into the third period. Satan took a pass from Michal Grosek and lost control of the puck in the slot, but the puck deflected in off the skate of defenseman Mike McBain for a 2-0 Sabres lead.

"The breaks didn't go our way, and Dominik stood on his head at the other end," Ranford said.

Satan has six goals in the last five games.

"He has the puck in key situations," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "He also has the composure to score goals."

Grosk has had at least one assist in each of the last five games.

The Lightning had three of their previous four road games go into overtime (1-1-1). The Lightning came back from a 2-0 deficit against Philadelphia to forge a 2-2 tie Sunday, but couldn't turn the trick against Hasek.

Sabres forward Vaclav Varada's attempt at an empty-net goal in the final seconds was broken up by Darcy Tucker. The two came to blows after the play.