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Tuesday, Feb. 1 7:00pm ET
Rucchin's power-play goal ties game | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Dominik Hasek returned to his familiar spot in the Buffalo Sabres goal and flashed some of his old form. Hasek's first game in more than three months Tuesday night was solid, as a 29-save effort helped the Sabres tie the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 2-2.
"It was tough," said Hasek, who missed 40 games after sustaining a groin injury Oct. 29 against Florida. "I felt pretty good the whole game. The groin got a little bit tired, but it had nothing to do with the two goals." Fredrik Olausson and Steve Rucchin scored power-play goals in the third period to bring Anaheim back from a 2-0 deficit. The Mighty Ducks are undefeated (2-0-1) on their Eastern road trip that concludes Thursday at Philadelphia. "Without (Hasek), we would have won the game," said Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, who had two assists. Oleg Tverdovsky also assisted twice for the Mighty Ducks. Miroslav Satan and Michael Peca scored for Buffalo, 2-1-1 in its last four games. The Sabres fell five points back in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Guy Hebert countered with 39 stops for Anaheim, nine in overtime. "I wish I could look that good after three months," Hebert said of Hasek's performance. Olausson's seventh goal broke Hasek's shutout bid 4:43 into the final period. His slap shot from the right point got through a screen and over Hasek's right shoulder. Rucchin scored his ninth by tipping a shot by Tverdovsky past Hasek, screened again, with 5:44 left in regulation. Buffalo fired a club-record nine shots in overtime, including six during a flurry while on the power play. Hebert made two stellar saves on Satan, including one while down from point-blank range after reacting to a nice move. "Hebert matched Hasek save for save," Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg said. "He probably bested him at the end in overtime. Our goalie was probably better than (Hasek) was." Satan put Buffalo up 1-0 with his 25th goal 11:47 into the first. He took the puck away from Kevin Haller just inside the blue line, skated through the right faceoff circle and wristed a shot through Hebert's pads. Peca's backhander over Hebert gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead with 4:09 remaining in the second. Vaclav Varada swung the puck across to Peca, who scored his ninth goal. Hasek was tested early, making his first stop 43 seconds into the game on a slap shot by Pavel Trnka. By the 3:10 mark, he had made six saves, the most spectacular being a sliding stop on Selanne. In the second period, Hasek made two outstanding saves. About 2½ minutes into the frame, he stopped Mike LeClerc on a rebound in front of the net. Eight minutes later, Ted Donato came in on a breakaway but was denied by Hasek's right pad. "It didn't surprise me that he was so sharp," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "The workouts he's been going through -- I wouldn't want to do it."
Hasek, the two-time NHL MVP and five-time winner of the Vezina
Trophy as the league's top goalie, turned 35 last weekend. His
record this season is 1-4-2. The Sabres were 17-19-4-1 during his absence.
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RECAPS Anaheim 2 Buffalo 2 AUDIO/VIDEO Dominik Hasek shows his true form. avi: 750 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Steve Rucchin deflects the Oleg Tverdovsky shot. avi: 556 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 |