Archives for April 15, 2001

Lesser Buffalo Sabres teams of the last half decade would have packed it in after Mark Recchi was allowed to jam an apparently frozen puck into the net before the referee could find his lips with the whistle. Packed it in, tossed it at the ref and pouted back to Western New York, in fact.

'A final decision won't come until team doctors see how the knee responds following Primeau's first full practice Sunday. If cleared, Primeau could play as soon as Monday, when the Flyers play Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres.'

'In what may have been the most telling sign of a playoff series gone awry yesterday, Flyers goaltending spokesman Roman Cechmanek refused to talk.'

'But if Games 1 and 2 at the First Union Center revealed anything about the Flyers, it was that they match up very poorly against the Sabres in any category that matters — speed, size and shooting ability included.'

'Nearly three weeks removed from spraining his left medial collateral ligament in Ottawa, Primeau will practice with the Flyers in Buffalo this afternoon, his first real test for the knee since incurring the injury in Ottawa March 26. If he comes anywhere close to passing that test, Primeau expects to be able to play tomorrow night in Game 3 of a best-of-7 series the Flyers trail by two after two home games.'

'The Sabres went home Saturday night the way few would have expected. They have a two-game lead in the best-of-seven series after defenseman Jay McKee became an unlikely hero and lifted them to a 4-3 victory in overtime against the Flyers before a sellout crowd that fell silent in the First Union Center.'

'But it certainly wasn't luck that carried the Sabres through the first two games of this series. It was will, determination and hard work. They didn't record a shot on goal for the first 15 minutes of a dreadful first period. In the locker room, coach Lindy Ruff told them to settle down and they turned up the offense, peppering Cechmanek with 41 shots the rest of the way.'

'From almost every angle, it looks like LeClair doesn't want them. His agent, Lewis Gross, his intelligence and credibility questioned by Clarke a few months ago, was summoned last week for a meeting with Flyers management about a new contract. Gross not-so-gratefully declined and did not return calls last week.'

'He was awaiting results from an examination Saturday before deciding whether he can play when the series moves to Buffalo. News reports out of Philadelphia late Saturday said Flyers doctors cleared him to skate today before determining whether he can play Monday.'

They just don’t come any better than this! Jay McKee ended what was one of the most exciting overtimes in recent history when his long shot made it past Roman Cechmanek. With just under two minutes remaining in the first overtime, Erik Rasmussen passed over to McKee coming over the middle and the Sabres defenseman went through the left faceoff circle and put the puck down low and Cechmanek could not stop it with his glove. The resulting goal not only gave the Buffalo Sabres a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers but a 2-0 lead in the series.