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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- After trying every way he could think of to
score, Chris Gratton earned it by taking a pounding in front of the
net.
With 7.2 seconds remaining in regulation, Gratton held his
ground in the crease long enough to convert Doug Gilmour's
centering pass as the Buffalo Sabres pulled out a 2-2 tie against
the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Friday night.
|  | | The Sabres rebounded from a shaky first period to tie the Mighty Ducks on Friday. |
It was a gritty goal, set up by Gilmour's perfect pass from
behind the net, that ended Gratton's frustration for the night.
Gratton finished with a game-high six shots on goal, many of
them great scoring opportunities. Earlier in the third period,
Gratton looked up at the ceiling after he deflected a point shot,
only to be robbed by Ducks goalie Dominic Roussel.
"I was wondering what I was going to have to do. I tried
driving different ways, changing sticks. I tried just about
everything," Gratton said after the Sabres snapped a three-game
losing streak.
Describing his goal, Gratton added: "At that point, I just
wanted to go to the net and try to create traffic. ... Hopefully
it's the start of good things to come here, but it had been
frustrating."
It was Gratton's first goal of the season, and second in 20
games with Buffalo since he was acquired in a deal from Tampa Bay
last March.
Roussel said he came a fraction of a second away from making the
stop.
"I was looking at the puck," said Roussel, who was solid in
making 34 stops. "They flipped it at my feet, and I was looking
down and somebody's stick was there and poked it in. For that
fraction of a second, I lost it."
Gratton's goal came 10 seconds after Buffalo's J.P. Dumont --
open in the slot -- backhanded a shot off the post.
Erik Rasmussen also scored as the Sabres overcame a 2-0 deficit.
Paul Kariya, with his second of the season, and Tony Hrkac
scored for the Ducks, while defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski assisted
on both goals. Anaheim is 2-0-1 in its last three road games.
The Ducks blamed themselves for squandering a win.
"We were up 2-0, I didn't think we played as well as we should
or as well as we can," Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg said.
"We sat back too much," added center Steve Rucchin, making his
season debut after missing almost a month recovering from a broken
left hand. "But give them credit. They came out hard and did
exactly what we wanted to do -- maintain a lot of pressure."
After Kariya opened the scoring 3:46 into the game, Hrkac put
the Ducks up 2-0 with a breakaway goal midway through the second
period. Set up at the Sabres blue line, Hrkac split the defense and
flipped a shot over Dominik Hasek's left shoulder and in off the
post.
Rasmussen cut the lead to 2-1 about a minute later, beating
Roussel low on the short side with a shot from the right circle.
Each team squandered a power-play opportunity in overtime.
"That would have been a tough game to come out of without
anything to show for it," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "It
looked like it was going to be that way for a while. Dumont hit the
post and it doesn't go in. But they stuck with it."
Hasek, who stopped 17 shots, has yet to win in five appearances
this season, going 0-3-1 over that span and giving up 13 goals.
Game notes
Rucchin replaced German Titov, listed as day-to-day with a
chest injury. ... Hasek is well noted for his slow starts. Despite
a career record of 210-153-69, Hasek is 20-33-6 in the month of
October. ... The Sabres were without defenseman Alexei Zhitnik,
who's serving the first game of a four-game suspension for
high-sticking Andrei Markov in Tuesday's 4-3 loss at Montreal.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
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RECAPS
Anaheim 2
Buffalo 2
NY Islanders 5
Atlanta 3
San Jose 3
Minnesota 1
Dallas 5
Chicago 1
Calgary 3
Boston 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Tony Hrkac fires the puck past Dominik Hasek.
avi: 634 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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