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HEAD COACH
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Lindy Ruff
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ROSTER
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C - Michael Peca, Stu Barnes, Brian Holzinger, Curtis
Brown, Wayne Primeau. LW - Dixon Ward, Joe Juneau, Michal Grosek,
Paul Kruse, Erik Rasmussen. RW - Miroslav Satan, Vaclav Varada,
Geoff Sanderson, Rob Ray, Dean Sylvester. D - Darryl Shannon,
Jason Woolley, Alexei Zhitnik, Jay McKee, Richard Smehlik, Rhett
Warrener, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, James Patrick. G - Dominik
Hasek, Dwayne Roloson.
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INJURIES
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Joe Juneau, lw (concussion, day-to-day); Michael
Grosek, lw (back spasms, day-to-day).
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TRANSACTIONS
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Northeast Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
y-Ottawa 82 44 23 15 103 239 179
x-Toronto 82 45 30 7 97 268 231
x-Boston 82 39 30 13 91 214 181
x-Buffalo 82 37 28 17 91 207 175
Montreal 82 32 39 11 75 184 209
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GAME RESULTS
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04/09 at Florida W 3-1
04/10 at Ottawa T 1-1
04/13 at Philadelphia T 2-2
04/14 New Jersey L 2-1
04/17 at Boston L 2-1 OT
04/18 Washington W 3-0
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STANDINGS
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Northeast Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
y-Ottawa 82 44 23 15 103 239 179
x-Toronto 82 45 30 7 97 268 231
x-Boston 82 39 30 13 91 214 181
x-Buffalo 82 37 28 17 91 207 175
Montreal 82 32 39 11 75 184 209
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TEAM NEWS
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by Matt Barr, Buffalo Correspondent
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No Looking Back
Just 'cause it's too unseemly. Like going 0-2-2 down the stretch
against conference playoff teams. Like leading 2-1 late in the
third against Philadelphia and squandering a point. Like being
tied going into the third against Jersey and losing. Like
letting Hal Gill score with 14 seconds left in overtime to lose
out on a chance to play Carolina. Mostly, like mustering only
twelve shots, no more than four in any period, against playoff
opponent Ottawa.
Hoo boy.
Ottawa Starts with 'OT'
The April 10 tie at Kanata meant that all five regular season
meetings between the Sens and Sabres went into overtime, with
only one decision, a 3-2 Ottawa win on December 30 at the
facility currently called Marine Midland Arena. Damian Rhodes
was in goal for the lone win and three of the ties, Ron Tugnutt
had the other tie for the Senators. Rhodes is expected to start
Wednesday's series opener.
As with any playoff series, this one will define itself after a
game or two, but it had a few interesting underpinnings going in:
- Tugnutt finished with the league's best goals-against average
at 1.79, and may be a Vezina Trophy finalist along with Dominik
Hasek. But again, former Leaf Damian Rhodes was expected to get
the nod over Tugger in the opener. Both goalies finished the
season with 22 wins, Rhodes' own GAA a respectable 2.44. Both
goalies were saying the right things to the press, and no "goalie
controversy" was expected, any more than one seemed to exist
during the regular season. But hey, there's nothing wrong with a
little yellow journalism here to try and maybe stir one up.
- Joey Juneau, who hoped to be back from his second recent mild
concussion in time to play Wednesday, had requested a trade to
Ottawa at the deadline, only to be shipped to Buffalo instead.
Juneau was unable to play in the season finale against his old
team due to the injury.
- Randy Cunneyworth, former Senators captain, was expected to
play for the Amerks in their opening playoff series against
Adirondack, but you never know when he might see some action
against his old team. Yee-haw! The intrigue.
- Two years ago, the now-departed Derek Plante scored the most
important goal in Senators history as the second-seeded Sabres
eliminated the seventh-seeded Senators (selling seashells by the
seashore) in overtime of game seven of the first round. Could
the equally-effective Vinny Prospal return the favor this
year?
Mopping Up the Regular Season
I guess we have to look back some, so here goes. With a holding
minor in the second period of the finale, Rob Ray finished the
season with 261 penalty minutes, tops in the league by two over
Jeff Odgers. Miro Satan was the Sabres' first 40-goal scorer
since Pat LaFontaine in 95-96. Dominik Hasek finished the
regular campaign with a GAA under 2.00 again, and with nine
shutouts. Hasek was also named NHL player of the week for the
sixth time in his career and third time this season for the week
of April 5-11. Hasek went 3-0-1 with a 0.97 GAA and .959 save
percentage for the week. The team also honored Hasek after the
Washington game for his surpassing Don Edwards as the Sabres'
all-time winningest goaltender.
The Sabres also crowned their annual post-season award winners
after the finale, naming Jason Woolley the team's unsung hero and
Michael Peca the winner of the Tim Horton Award for dedication
and leadership. Center Curtis Brown is the team's nominee for
the NHL's Bill Masterson Trophy. Center Wayne Primeau also won
the award given annually to the player most closely related to
Hurricanes skating filing cabinet Keith Primeau. Congratulations
to all!
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