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Wednesday, Oct. 25 7:00pm ET
Sabres snap five-game skid | |||||
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Whatever was wrong with Dominik Hasek, some early scoring by his teammates seemed to fix it. Buffalo scored two goals in the game's first five minutes and Hasek made 30 saves as the Sabres defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 Wednesday night. The win was the first of the season for Hasek and snapped Buffalo's five-game winless streak. The loss was Carolina's third straight. "My teammates, they made my job much easier," Hasek said. "It's better for me, for any goalie, if you can be up one or two goals and I felt great." Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said the early spurt helped not just the goalie, but the entire team. "I thought we came out real hard, moved the puck extremely well and had everybody going," Ruff said. "Everybody got involved in the game and with them playing (Tuesday) we wanted to get off to a quick start." The Hurricanes lost to San Jose, 3-2, on Tuesday night. In addition to their two early goals, the Sabres outshot Carolina 11-3 in the opening period. The first goal came when Rob Ray put a shot on goal that was stopped by goalie Tyler Moss. The puck rebounded off and, after Erik Rasmussen was pulled down going for the puck, Ray followed his own shot with a 15-foot slap shot that got past Moss to put Buffalo up 1-0 just 3:18 in. The goal was the first of the season for Ray. A minute and a half later, Buffalo added to its lead. James Patrick got the puck to Doug Gilmour, who sent a perfect centering pass in front of the net to a streaking Chris Gratton. Gratton beat Moss to put Buffalo up 2-0. The early lead helped Hasek's confidence. The 35-year-old goalie -- a notoriously slow starter -- has struggled so far this season, with a 0-4-1 record and a 3.40 goals against average coming in. On Wednesday, he moved better and cut off angles to limit the quality shots that Carolina took. His most impressive save came early in the second period when he smothered a 15-foot shot by Sandis Ozolinsh. "He made some great saves down low and he shut the door on us, that's for sure," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. Rasmussen had the most impressive goal of the night when -- early in the second period -- he broke free down the left side with the puck. He skated around Ozolinsh and beat Moss with a backhand shot to make it 3-0 with 2:48 gone in the second. "I actually wanted to keep going and try to go high on the opposite side," Rasmussen said. "It went in the net anyway." Despite their early season woes, Ruff thought his team was skating well. Against Carolina, that part of Buffalo's game finally paid off. The Sabres consistently beat the Hurricanes to the puck and created scoring opportunities. "It's really been part of our strong suit," Ruff said. "We've got everybody skating and everybody moving and the defense is getting up ice." The Sabres, 3-0-1 at home this season, added to their lead when Dumont deflected in a Patrick shot for a power-play goal and a 4-0 lead. Carolina's lone goal came with 10:33 left when Jeff O'Neill -- standing right in front of the net -- deflected in a Rod Brind'Amour shot. Game notesCarolina forward Martin Gelinas needs just one goal to reach 200 for his career and five points to reach 400. ... Coming into the game, Carolina ranked 26th in the league on the power play, converting 4-for-43 (9.3 percent). Last season the Hurricanes were ninth. ... Gilmour needs one assist to tie Dale Hawerchuk for 13th place on the NHL's career list. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Carolina Clubhouse Buffalo Clubhouse RECAPS Buffalo 4 Carolina 1 AUDIO/VIDEO   Erik Rasmussen beats Tyler Moss on the breakaway.avi: 628 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Chris Gratton puts the Doug Gilmour pass past Tyler Moss.avi: 709 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||