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SABRES 3, Panthers 2, OT
Sabres' Sanderson scores OT winner
Sanderson took a pass from Curtis Brown and fired the puck past Florida goaltender Trevor Kidd for his fourth career overtime goal and first for the Sabres. His last game-winner in OT came against Buffalo in February 1996, when Sanderson played for Hartford.
Stu Barnes scored the tying goal with 18 seconds left in regulation, knocking in a loose puck during a scramble in front of the Florida net with the Buffalo goaltender pulled for an extra skater.
Barnes' goal came just 15 seconds after Bret Hedican ripped a slap shot past Dominik Hasek to give Panthers a 2-1 lead.
Hasek was injured on Hedican's goal, which rattled in off the left post. The goaltender did a split while trying to make the save and was down for several minutes before being assisted to the bench. He was replaced by Martin Biron, who made four saves in overtime.
Michael Peca also scored for Buffalo, and Ray Whitney scored Florida's first goal.
Hasek has struggled throughout the season and even looked shaky in Wednesday's 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, his first win of the season, in which he allowed three goals on 18 shots.
The Panthers didn't make Hasek work hard this time until the third, when the Sabres were outshot 12-11.
Buffalo outshot Florida 20-9 through two periods and the Panthers managed only three shots in the first, tying their season low for shots in a period.
The Sabres scored the first goal 5:37 into the game when Peca worked a give-and-go with Vaclav Varada and rifled the puck past Trevor Kidd at 5:37.
Whitney tied it at 7:06 with his fifth goal of the season.
The Sabres were in the middle of a defensive line change on the play and their forwards lost the puck in the neutral zone. A pass from former Sabres defenseman Mike Wilson sent Whitney in alone through the left circle, and the soft wrist shot fluttered over Hasek's glove.
Hasek stuffed Pavel Bure's wraparound with a minute left in the second.
Kidd, who had allowed 19 goals in six games against Buffalo, posting a 1-4 record and a 3.29 goals-against average, made two big saves on a Buffalo power play early in the third. First he got a pad on Zhitnik's shot from the point and stopped Jason Woolley on the rebound. He also turned back Satan with 1:13 left.
The Sabres survived 1:27 of a power play midway through the third including 8 seconds of a five-on-three. Hasek made four saves on the power play, including a stop on Svehla on a point-blank shot.
Summary
------------------------------- Florida 0 1 1 0--2 Buffalo 1 0 1 1--3 ------------------------------- FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Buffalo, Peca 3 (Varada, Zhitnik), 5:37. Penalties: R Svehla, Fla (holding), 8:57; Satan, Buf (high sticking), 15:16; Mellanby, Fla (cross checking), 17:39; Ray, Buf (roughing), 17:39. SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Florida, Whitney 5 (Wilson, Kvasha), 7:06. Penalties: Mellanby, Fla (tripping), 12:34; Satan, Buf (Obstr hooking), 13:44; Laus, Fla (interference), 16:24. THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Florida, Hedican 1 (R Johnson, Dvorak), 19:27. 4, Buffalo, S Barnes 3 (Varada, Woolley), 19:42. Penalties: Whitney, Fla (tripping), 1:50; Mckee, Buf (holding), 6:59; Stewart, Fla (slashing), 9:20; S Barnes, Buf (holding stick), 9:28; Woolley, Buf (tripping), 9:53. OVERTIME -- Scoring: 5, Buffalo, Sanderson 4 (Brown), 4:54. Shots on goal: ------------------------------------ Florida 3 6 12 4--25 Buffalo 9 11 11 2--33 ------------------------------------ Power-play Conversions: Fla - 0 of 5, Buf - 0 of 5. Goalies: Florida, Kidd (33 shots, 30 saves; record: 5-2-1). Buffalo, Hasek (21, 19), Biron (19:27 of 3rd period, 4, 4; record: 2-0-0). A:17,503. Referees: Mcgeough, Trottier. Linesmen: Driscoll, Nowak.
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