Struggling Sabres Edge Isles
The Buffalo Sabres clinched a playoff spot, but they weren't celebrating.
After jumping out to a quick start this season, the Sabres moved into the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Buffalo has struggled the last half of the season, but backup goaltender Dwayne Roloson secured the Sabres third straight playoff berth with 38 saves.
|
"I'm a little surprised we gave up so many shots, but we got the two points and that's what matters," Roloson said.
Jason Woolley had a goal and an assist as the Sabres moved to within one point of fifth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Wayne Primeau, Rhett Warrener and Miroslav Satan also scored for the Sabres, which clinched a playoff spot with the win. Dominik Hasek got the night off and was replaced by Roloson.
Buffalo has 85 points, one point fewer than both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The Sabres have a game in hand on both teams, and have 35 wins, one fewer than the Penguins and one more than the Flyers.
The Islanders, who are winless at home since beating Detroit 3-1 on Feb. 27 (0-7-2), got goals from Bryan Smolinski, Trevor Linden and Eric Brewer. Wade Flaherty started his ninth straight game in net and made 17 saves.
Buffalo won for the first time in its last four tries at the Islanders.
The Sabres scored the only first period goal at 16:14 on the power play when Woolley beat a screened Flaherty with a slap shot from the right point.
The Islanders tied the game 89 seconds into the second period when Smolinski got a rebound past Roloson. But it was a mistake by rookie defenseman Brewer that allowed the Sabres to take the lead for good.
Brewer, coming out from behind the net, lost the puck to Sabres forward Rob Ray. Ray quickly passed to Primeau who was alone in front of Flaherty. His shot hit Flaherty's stick, but the moentum carried the puck just across the goal line for Primeau's fifth of the season at 6:33.
"We're a young hockey club - the youngest in the league - and we're going to make mistakes," Islanders coach Bill Stewart said. "He probably should have reversed it behind where he was, but those are the kinds of mistakes we as a coaching staff have to turn into positives."
Warrener put the Sabres up 3-1 at 13:05 on a rebound of Michael Peca's shot.
"We knew the Islanders would be dangerous," Peca said. "We thought we could go into Montreal and leave with two points and go home (a 2-1 loss on Saturday). That crossed us up, and we made sure that we wouldn't make that mistake again."
Linden sent a one-timer from the left circle past Roloson at 15:30 on a power play to narrow the gap to 3-2. Satan answered at 4:47 of the third period on a blind backhand shot to restore Buffalo's two-goal lead, only to have Brewer return the favor with a slap shot from the right point.
"I thought that it would be quicker to get the backhand off," Satan said of his team-leading 36th goal. "I was glad to get it off and I'm glad it went in."
Both goals were power play goals, and both were scored with one second left on each respective man-advantage. Roloson preserved the win with a sparkling pad save on Mariusz Czerkawski with 68 seconds left in the game.
©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed