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Saturday, October 16, 1999
Holdouts, Cup hangover plague winless Buffalo
Holdouts and another bad bounce also have conspired to keep the Eastern Conference champion Sabres winless with two losses and a pair of ties.
But they hope all that will change with games in Montreal tonight and Philadelphia on Sunday. The Flyers also are looking for their first win.
The Sabres finally have all their players back after several training camp no-shows. But the hangover from losing in the Stanley Cup finals to the Dallas Stars on a dubious goal persists.
"I don't think this Cup hangover is so bad," defenseman Jason Woolley said. "I've had worse hangovers than this."
The image is frozen: Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek is stretched across the crease, a pad extended to each corner.
Sabres center Brian Holzinger is kicking a skate out behind him in hopes of getting a blade on the Stanley Cup-clinching shot that Dallas sharpshooter Brett Hull launches with a skate in the crease.
The controversial shot was counted and the Sabers haven't won since. Are they cursed?
"We just have to play a little harder and play a little smarter," Sabres wing Dixon Ward said Friday. "We're going to be all right."
Buffalo, whose streak of futility includes an embarrassing 5-5 tie with the expansion Atlanta Thrashers in which Hasek was benched in the second period, could have offered plenty of plausible excuses.
The playoffs were emotionally and physically draining and a short offseason offered little recovery time. Holdouts have yet to get up to speed including the team's leading scorer from last year, Miroslav Satan, and defensemen Rhett Warrener and Jay McKee.
Two other defensemen, Alexei Zhitnik and Richard Smehlik, are coming off injuries.
"We don't have any excuses, but there's no reason to panic or to be frustrated at this point," forward Geoff Sanderson said. "It's only four games."
The playoffs are still six months away. "If we're winless in four games and we're the Buffalo Bills, we're worried.
Hasek, who has led the league in save percentage in each of the last six seasons, has allowed 11 goals in less than four full games including a game-tying pinball of a shot that handcuffed the goaltender in the final seconds in a 2-2 tie with Phoenix on Monday.
Hasek's solution: Get over it.
"There's been too much talk about the Stanley Cup finals and players holding out in training camp," Hasek said.
"I know I haven't played my best game yet," Hasek said. "But I feel good. Hopefully, we can get our first win this weekend."
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