Archives for December 28, 2003

'"It's a big relief to finally win some games," said Satan, who had two assists. "Hopefully, we get confidence and continue to play this way."'

'"I thought he played a safe game," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "I would like to have seen him skate more, but for a first game I thought he held his own."'

'"We had our chances tonight, but we couldn't get the puck to go in," right wing Mike Grier said. "We had the puck in their zone a lot; we just didn't get it on net enough."'

'Peter Bondra scored Washington's only goal (on his only shot) and hit two pipes but the Sabres held a commanding 40-22 advantage in shots. Actually, what hurt the Caps was taking the second period off — they had two shots and one was a gift — as the Sabres, winners of one of their last nine games, were minus their leading scorer.'

'The Caps did not set a record for fewest penalties in a game by both teams but came close. Washington and Buffalo combined for three minor infractions, two by the visitors, one more than the team record.'

'"That first goal was something we didn't expect," added Satan, who tied the game at 1 and later assisted on both the game-winner by Daniel Briere in the third period and an empty-net insurance goal by Jochen Hecht. "It gave us a chance to start over again and we took it."'

'The Buffalo Sabres had a simple game plan, one that worked to near perfection: Don't do anything stupid.'

'“The thing that's most impressive was that we had a couple of key players out of the lineup, two of your top three in the points department,'' Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “The guys stuck with it, played hard and got rewarded.'''

'Head Coach Lindy Ruff made the decision to move Satan up a line to play with Daniel Briere and Jochen Hecht in place of injured J.P. Dumont. It was a good move for Buffalo as each of the players scored a goal in the win, with Satan in on every goal.'