Flyers Drop Game 1

Dominik Hasek doesn`t care about the regular season. The playoffs are his time.

Hasek stopped 31 shots -- including Mark Recchi`s first-period penalty shot -- as the Buffalo Sabres finally solved Roman Cechmanek and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The second game of the best-of-seven series is Saturday at Philadelphia.

Cechmanek, who allowed just two goals in a four-game sweep of Buffalo during the regular season, gave up soft goals to Chris Gratton and Doug Gilmour in the first period. He made 21 saves.

"We were prepared for him," Hasek said of Cechmanek, his backup on the 1998 gold-medal winning Czech Republic Olympic team. "He played his best hockey against us. Once the regular season is over, it doesn`t count."

Gratton, a former Flyer, gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead just two seconds after Philadelphia killed a penalty early in the first. Gratton`s point-blank shot handcuffed Cechmanek, bounced off his chest and trickled into the net.

The goal came on Buffalo`s second shot of the game. Cechmanek stopped 100 of 102 shots against the Sabres in the regular season.

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"I was never nervous," Cechmanek said. "It was a very good shot through the five-hole. It surprised me."

Cechmanek, playing in his first NHL season at age 30, won 34 games, recorded 10 shutouts, had a 2.01 goals against average and became the first goalie to beat Hasek four times in one season.

None of it mattered as the Sabres and Flyers began their fifth playoff series in seven years -- three of which were won by Philadelphia.

Gilmour broke a 1-all tie by sneaking a shot between Cechmanek`s legs with 1:56 left in the first. Donald Audette fired a shot from the wing that bounced off the skate of Gilmour, who controlled the puck and slipped it by Cechmanek while two defensemen surrounded him.

"We forechecked well, the puck went out to Audette and I was able to poke it through," Gilmour said.

Midway through the first, Philadelphia was awarded a penalty shot after Sabres defenseman James Patrick took the puck off John LeClair`s stick and covered it with his hand in the crease during a scramble in front of the net.

But Hasek stoned Recchi, who failed on a head fake then tried to lift the puck into the top corner. Hasek denied Eric Desjardins` penalty shot last year in Game 3 at Buffalo, during a first-round series won in five games by Philadelphia.

"I tried to fake the shot to get him to go down," said Recchi, who was stopped by Hasek on a penalty shot in 1995. "I did get him leaning, but I didn`t get it high enough."

Hasek was shaken up six seconds later when Flyers forward Peter White was pushed into him. The goalie remained in the game as a sellout crowd of 19,543 at the First Union Center chanted "Hasek, Hasek."

"They created a lot of traffic in front of me, they were knocking my defensemen down on me," Hasek said. "If I didn`t see the puck, it missed the net or it was knocked down."

Desjardins tied it at 1 after he picked up a loose puck and one-timed it past Hasek with 6:00 left in the first. Paul Ranheim set up the goal by skating in, making a nifty cut before losing the puck, which went right to Desjardins.

The Flyers wasted a four-minute power-play in the second by not recording a shot. LeClair had the best scoring chance after Miroslav Satan received a double-minor for high-sticking White.

But LeClair lost control of the puck while breaking in as Stu Barnes whacked at his stick from behind.

"I wasn`t worried about the shots," Flyers coach Bill Barber said. "We had some good opportunities. I`m not going to sit here and attack our power-play (unit) or our team."

Notes: Recchi`s penalty shot was the first by a Flyers player in 158 playoff games in Philadelphia. Barber took the team`s first penalty shot in the playoffs in 1975. The Flyers are 1-for-6 on penalty shots in the playoffs. Eric Lindros scored the only goal on May 11, 1997, against Buffalo`s Steve Shields. ... The Flyers have won one playoff series in the last 12 years in which they lost the first game. ... The last 33:07 were played at even strength.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP) (Photo courtesy CSN)