Archives for March 5, 2001

'No way this was going to work twice. Twenty-four hours after scoring on the Colorado Avalanche twice on three first-period shots and going on to a victory, the Buffalo Sabres took just two shots in Sunday afternoon's opening session . . . and lost, 4-1, to the Dallas Stars at Reunion Arena.'

'Instead, the Stars came out with all the energy, scored two goals in the opening 15 minutes and drummed the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, in a matinee at Reunion Arena.'

'The Stars are tied with the St. Louis Blues for best record in the league when scoring the first goal. Dallas is 28-3-3 when scoring first.'

'Ed Belfour, Stars: Sabres attacked hard, especially in the second period, and Belfour was there to let the Stars catch their breath.'

'The Stars had two goals before Buffalo had a shot.'

'Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour were teammates in Chicago for parts of two seasons. During the 1990-91 and '91-92 seasons, Hasek had yet to emerge as the Dominator as he backed up Belfour, who guided the Blackhawks to the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.'

'"They were flat after a tough game against Colorado."'

'"It was one of those slow games," Belfour said. "The guys were just working hard up front and scored some nice goals."'

'Timely goaltending and capitalizing on Buffalo mistakes was the key to victory for Dallas.'

'Main target – Ted Nolan The 1997 NHL coach of the year with the Sabres is seemingly a perfect fit. "The guys would run through walls for him," former Buffalo bad boy Matthew Barnaby" said. "We loved him that much."'