'A serious wakeup call'

Sabres fortunate to come away with Game 5 win

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Posted: Wednesday June 03, 1998 07:44 PM

Kolzig (bottom) made 14 saves but it wasn't enough as the Caps outshot the Sabres 35-16 (Rick Stewart/AP)

BUFFALO, New York (AP) -- The defense was poor. The offense wasn't much better. The power play was awful. The faceoff percentage was abysmal. There were breakdowns, turnovers and bad decisions.

The Buffalo Sabres had no right beating the Washington Capitals and forcing Game 6 in the Eastern Conference finals except for one thing: They have the NHL's best goaltender in Dominik Hasek.

"It's a great luxury we have, but we all know we put in a pretty embarrassing effort," Sabres forward Geoff Sanderson said after practice Wednesday. "We know how much better we have to compete against them if we want to win this series."

Buffalo escaped Washington with a 2-1 victory after defenseman Jason Woolley scored with 4:26 remaining to bring the Sabres to within 3-2 in the best-of-7 series. Game 6 will be Thursday night in Buffalo.

"That was a serious wakeup call for us," Woolley said. "We won the game, but we're not happy with the way we played. When your backs are against the wall like they are now, it's a pretty good time to respond."

Washington has been up 3-1 in a series five times and lost three. If Washington dominates and the Dominator doesn't, the Caps should win Game 6 and reach the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 24-year history.

A Caps loss would force Game 7 on Saturday night in Washington. The Capitals would be haunted once again with whispers that they can't win big games. No team has ever led a conference final 3-1 and lost the series.

"We have to go in there understanding the pressure is on them and try to end it," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "If we can't, then we'll finish them off here Saturday."

With victories in Games 2, 3, and 4, the Capitals became the first team to beat the Sabres since Philadelphia won three straight over Buffalo last season. Philly also was the last team to beat Buffalo three straight at home. Both streaks ended in the playoffs.

Hasek (bottom) and the Sabres might be running out of gas and time as the series returns to Buffalo for Game 6 (Rick Stewart/Allsport)

"I'll try to do the same as I did yesterday," Hasek said. "I don't make any promises."

The Sabres have been criticized for being an average team with a great goaltender. Buffalo played below average and Hasek played above great on Tuesday night. While the Sabres gave up one scoring chance after another, Hasek was there to stop all but one.

His 34 saves included a few from his back and a couple breakaways. Those who haven't seen him make such stops before would perhaps attribute it to luck.

"He bailed us out on numerous occasions," Buffalo forward Rob Ray said. "It was probably one of the best games that we've seen him play."

The Sabres wouldn't have needed Hasek's spectacular performance had they played better in front of him. Buffalo generated little offense, pushed its power play to 2-for-26 in the series and lost 62 percent of the faceoffs.

Had Hasek not been at his best, Washington would be waiting to see whether it meets Detroit or Dallas in the Stanley Cup finals, and Buffalo would be calling for tee times.

"We expected this to go seven games," Caps forward Chris Simon said. "If we can win it in six, that would be nice."

Going into the postseason, the Sabres said Hasek was capable of stealing two games in every series. He played extremely well against Philadelphia and Montreal but has had problems against Washington.

In Game 4, he allowed two goals that he rarely lets through, including a 70-footer that prompted him to wear a sign on his practice jersey that read "Swiss cheese." He stole Game 5. The Sabres promise help for Game 6.

"Regardless of how we played, with the netminder playing the way he is, we've got a chance to win," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "As much as Dom owed the players for one bad goal, the players owe him now."

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