Sabres, Pens End In 1-1 Tie

Neither jet lag nor the Pittsburgh Penguins could beat Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek Saturday.

Hasek returned to Buffalo's lineup and made 31 saves, helping the Sabres to a 1-1 tie with the Penguins.

Hasek left the team at midweek to see a specialist in Germany for evaluation of his lingering groin problem. He returned in time for Friday's practice and played Saturday, despite being diagnosed with a hernia.

"He's the best goaltender in the league for a reason," teammate Michael Peca said. "A couple of days off aren't going to slow him down."

Hasek said he recovered from the trans-Atlantic round-trip by getting 11 hours of sleep. He said he didn't worry about his injury.

"If you want to win the game, you have no time to think about small things," Hasek said. "You can't worry about an injury. You have to concentrate on stopping the puck."

Hasek made four saves in overtime, including two point-blank stops on Jan Hrdina. Pittsburgh remained unbeaten in overtime at 6-0-13.

The Penguins were 0-for-9 on the power play, including a pair of two-man advantages that totaled 3:46. Coach Kevin Constantine took Jaromir Jagr off the top power play unit in the third period. Jagr spent the first 1:20 of the ninth power play opportunity on the bench.

Constantine indicated that Jagr asked off the power play in favor of journeymen Kip Miller and Rob Brown.

"I think he just saw some other guys - Kiand Brown - move the puck very well," Constantine said. "He just indicated to let those guys go. As to why he wanted to let those guys go, I couldn't tell you directly because we didn't talk about it."

"He likes to go 28, 29 minutes (a game). But a lot of times how much I use him is based on his body language in terms of what he likes and what he wants to do. He wanted those guys to go first."

Jagr seemed to suggest the decision wasn't his.

"I'm not a coach," Jagr said. "He didn't say anything. He just said who was on the ice. He didn't say my name. I cannot change it. I'm not a coach. That's the way it is. We didn't score it before. Maybe it was my fault ... try something different."

Although he appeared to be angry when he finally got onto the ice for the final 20 seconds, Jagr said, "I'm not upset."

Jagr leads the NHL with 111 points, but his point-scoring streak ended at nine games.

Buffalo's Wayne Primeau puts a kink in Matthew Barnaby's neck. (AP)

Matthew Barnaby, who was traded to Pittsburgh by the Sabres March 11, scored at 6:35 of the first period on own rebound.

Barnaby celebrated with an elaborate dance.

"I think it was a bigger deal to him than it was to us," Peca said.

Buffalo tied the score just over two minutes later. Jean-Sebastien Aubin stopped Alexei Zhitnik's shot from the point but Michal Grosek knocked in the rebound for his 20th at 8:41.

The Penguins killed a four-minute disadvantage in the third period when Brad Werenka got a double minor for high sticking Grosek. Buffalo had seven shots during the extended power play.

Sabres center Curtis Brown left the game early in the second period with a bruised knee and did not return. Brian Holzinger left the game after his nose was broken by Werenka and did not return. Joe Juneau did not play because of food poisoning.

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