Archives for December 2, 2001

It was billed as The Revenge of Captain Crunch. Michael Peca, known by Buffalo Sabres fans as Captain Crunch after all those years he terrorized opponents with his ferocious hits, now had his first chance to extract some revenge on the team that denied him a whole year's service in the NHL. Peca must have had this date circled on his calendar as soon as the NHL schedule was released, his first meeting with his former team. As it turned out, Peca wasn't much of a factor at all in the New York Islanders 4-2 loss to the Sabres.

'The Sabres have lost only once in their last six outings and, despite owning one of the league's worst road records, have won two straight away from HSBC Arena.'

'The trade doesn't work for two basic reasons: Regier made the move on Dominik Hasek's terms rather than his own, and Kozlov has underachieved.'

'Kalinin had the cast removed from his left hand Thursday.'

'A lackluster 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres tonight before 16,234 at Nassau Coliseum was only the sixth defeat of the season for the Islanders, who had 12 at this point a year ago. But the Islanders are 4-5-3 since Nov. 8, when the Rangers routed them, 6-2.'

'"I would've been sure we would've ripped the door off the hinges to get out on the ice for this one," Laviolette said. "Instead, we didn't show up. And we got what we deserved."'

'New Buffalo captain Stu Barnes, the first to wear the "C" since Peca did two years ago with the Sabres, scored on a funny bounce to cut the Isles' early lead to 2-1 with less than two minutes to go in the first. Slicing through the slot, a hot knife through a buttery Isles defense, Barnes tapped in a rebound of J.P. Dumont's backhand attempt that ricocheted off Chris Osgood as the Isles continued to have the bounces go against them on their home ice.'

'"I'm disappointed in the fact that we needed big-time players tonight," Laviolette said. "We needed to show up and compete, and win the one-on-one battles and we got absolutely destroyed."'

'Michael Peca's old team gave a much more spirited effort than his new one.'

'Dumont scored the go-ahead goal with 2:16 left in the second period as the Sabres rallied for their sixth straight victory over the New York Islanders, 4-2.'