Hasek, Sabres Shutout Flames

March 25, 1998 / 1:49 AM EST / CBS/AP

It was vintage Dominik Hasek.

Hasek made 29 saves for his NHL-leading 11th shutout and Donald Audette and Curtis Brown each scored a goal as the Buffalo Sabres beat the Calgary Flames 2-0 Tuesday night.

Seldom tested over the opening two periods, Hasek made 13 over the final 20 minutes with Calgary pressing for the tying goal.

"It's fun for me," Hasek said. "I was fortunate on a few chances that I didn't see. If I don't see the puck, I just try to cover as much territory as I can."

Hasek's most impressive sequence came midway through the third period, just minutes after he was shaken up and cut on the forehead after taking a hard rising slap shot from Joel Bouchard off the front of his mask. The shot hit the the front of Hasek's mask, knocking him backwards into the net.

After play resumed, Hasek was under fire but while sprawled on the ice, acrobatically turned aside Bouchard, German Titov and Valeri Bure consecutively on shots from the edge of the crease.

Hasek has not allowed more than two goals in 15 of his last 17 outings.

In addition to his career-high shutout total, his goals-against average (2.15) and league-leading save percentage (.930) are also higher than last season when he won both the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender and the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.

Last month in Nagano, Japan, he was the key factor in the Czech Republic's gold-medal performance at the Winter Olympics.

"I have a hard time believing one goal is enough to win hockey games but with him in net, you start to believe it is," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff.

Hasek recently signed a two-year extension with Buffalo making him the league's highest paid goalie.

"We did everything we wanted to do tonight but couldn't solve their goalie," said Flames coach Brian Sutter. "He was very good in tough situations, he earned what he got."

Buffalo got all the offense it needed 11 seconds into the third when Audette banged a loose puck past Rick Tabaracci for his 19th.

Brown added an empty-netter with 45 seconds remaining.

The win moved Buffalo into a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with Montreal, two points behind Washington and Boston, who are tied for fourth.

The Flames, who had a seven-game unbeaten streak at home broken, remained seven points behind Edmonton for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Earlier in the day, Buffalo traded right wing Jason Dawe, second on the team with 19 goals, to the New York Islanders for Paul Kruse and Jason Holland.

Calgary's newly acquired left wing, Jason Wiemer, did not arrive in time to play. Wiemer was acquired earlier in the day from Tampa Bay for Sandy McCarthy and two 1998 draft pcks.