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Thursday, December 9, 1999
Double-O heaven
Goalies save the day
BUFFALO -- If you're the Senators, how do you spell relief? R-O-N T-U-G-N-U-T-T.
The Senators can thank their goalie for a 0-0 tie against the Sabres last night.
Not only was Ottawa's performance inconsistent, turnovers continued to be a problem.
The Senators are now 3-7-2 in their last 12 games.
With 11 seconds remaining in the overtime period, Tugnutt made a huge save on Miroslav Satan.
And it was no different in regulation time, as Tugnutt made three spectacular stops with about three minutes left.
The Senators were given the perfect chance shortly after when the Sabres' Michal Grosek was penalized for holding the stick, but Ottawa couldn't get the puck anywhere near Buffalo goalie Martin Biron.
Tugnutt was making his return after missing the last three games with a knee strain, but appeared to suffer no lingering effects from the layoff.
Tugnutt was right on the mark when a Chris Phillips turnover nearly resulted in a Sabres goal late in the third period. He was also called upon to bail out Shawn Van Allen and Patrick Traverse earlier in the game.
"I saw the puck really well tonight," said Tugnutt. "We really wanted to win this game. Besides a couple of defensive mistakes, this was a good start."
Prior to last night's game, Senators coach Jacques Martin talked about the importance of avoiding turnovers and keeping things simple, but in their effort to avoid making mistakes, the Senators looked hesitant. New line combinations might have also been part of the problem.
"I switched my lines because I wasn't happy," said Martin. "We had a great effort from Tugnutt, but then we lost (defenceman Jason) York early in the (first) period and that didn't help."
York left the game after feeling pain in the groin area and returned for one more shift, but was then unable to play for the remainder of the game.
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