What if?
Sabres have all summer to wonder what could've been
Posted: Friday June 05, 1998 08:30 PM
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"Everyone on this team must learn from what happened," says Hasek (AP) |
BUFFALO, New York (AP) -- The Buffalo Sabres can look back
at their best-of-seven series against the Washington Capitals and
find dozens of plays that will haunt them all summer.
They can blame referee Kerry Fraser for two disputed calls that cost them
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. They can blame star goaltender Dominik Hasek for
allowing two bad goals in Game 4. But most of all they can blame
themselves.
"Winners never say, `What if,"' forward Dixon Ward said. "We
just didn't get it done. The onus was on us and nobody else. It wasn't just
this game, it was all the games we didn't show up for."
The Sabres played well enough to win Thursday night, but lost when Juneau
jumped on Bellows' rebound in front of the net and stuffed the puck under
Hasek's glove hand. Buffalo wouldn't have even been in Game 6 had Hasek not
put together one of his best performances of the season in the previous
game when his teammates disappeared.
By the end of the series, all the breaks and games stolen by goaltenders
evened out for both teams, and Washington skated into the Stanley Cup
Finals. On Saturday, the Sabres will clean out their lockers.
"Everyone on this team must learn from what happened," Hasek said. "It's
important to think what we did wrong. I can point to this guy or that guy,
or to myself, but it's important for everyone to know we can do better and
learn from our mistakes."
For the Sabres, it ends their most successful season since 1980 and
certainly their most impressive, considering the turmoil that included the
dismissals of popular coach of the year Ted Nolan and general manager John
Muckler, named executive of the year by the Hockey News.
Lindy Ruff took over for Nolan and worked through battles between
teammates and angry fans before bringing the Sabres together in January.
Buffalo then blew away Philadelphia and Montreal in the first two rounds
before succumbing to Washington on Thursday. Despite all the problems,
which also included the sale of the team to John Rigas late in the season,
the Sabres were within two wins from their first Stanley Cup appearance
since 1975.
"That's the toughest pill to swallow, never knowing if you're going to
get this far again," Ward said. "To get this close and let it slip away is
heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking."
After the game, Buffalo forward Rob Ray sat for 40
minutes in front of his locker with his head buried in his hands. Ray was
short on natural talent, but spent nine years with the same team and
extended his career by becoming one of the Sabres' biggest leaders. He
becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. Although the Sabres have hinted
he could come back, he might have played his last game with the team
without ever reaching the Stanley Cup Finals.
"He's been here for almost 10 years," newcomer Paul Kruse said. "He's
such a team guy who is always there. I wanted to win, but when you see a
guy like that, you want to win even more."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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