Sabres Ground Flyers

The Buffalo Sabres might have been lucky, but they're not about to apologize for beating the Philadelphia Flyers.

Miroslav Satan scored a short-handed goal in the second period and an errant pass by Stu Barnes deflected off the skate of a Philadelphia defenseman for another score as the Sabres beat the Flyers 2-1 Wednesday night. The Sabres (2-1-0-1) snapped a five-game, regular-season losing streak against the Flyers.

Satan gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead at 15:34 of the second period, scoring his first goal of season on a shot from high in the slot.

"I missed the shot and scored a goal," Satan said. "The puck bounced and it went flying like a butterfly."

Barnes gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:32 of the first when a pass intended for Slava Kozlov deflected off the skate of Philadelphia's Eric Desjardins.

"It was a lucky bounce, a very lucky bounce," Barnes said.

Simon Gagne scored at 18:01 of the third period, flicking a shot over Biron's right shoulder as the Flyers (1-1-2-0) closed within 2-1.

Buffalo goalie Martin Biron made 26 saves, including a number of key stops in the second period. Biron came out to stop Jan Hlavac on a breakaway and blocked two shots from close range by Ruslan Fedotenko.

Biron didn't seem to mind losing the shutout.

"You don't really think about it," Biron said. "It's a 2-0 game, you want to keep it a 2-0 game. It's not about shutouts, it's about shutting the door and giving your team the opportunity to win."

Flyers coach Bill Barber was at a loss to explain why his team seems to only play with desperation in the third period. Nine of the Philadelphia's 11 goals this season have come in the third period.

"I don't know," Barber said. "Why don't you go in there and ask them? When you have the answer come and talk to me."

Barnes extended his scoring streak to three games and recorded a point in his fourth consecutive contest.

Less than a minute after Barnes' goal, a shot by Curtis Brown was barely stopped by Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher.

Boucher, who has allowed four goals in two starts, stopped 21 of 23 shots.

Boucher started in place of Roman Cechmanek, who has given up five goals in two games. Cechmanek last played in Buffalo when the Sabres knocked the Flyers out of the first round of last year's playoffs with a 8-0 shellacking.

The key for the Sabres was getting an early lead, according to Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

"It looked like they were a little bit flat for whatever reason, maybe it was coming back into the building," Ruff said. "We skated really well, especially in the first 20 minutes."

Notes:
Wayne Gretzky, general manager of Canada's Olympic team, was in the press box scouting players. ... Flyers center Jiri Dopita sat out with left knee sprain and a cracked knee crap. He is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. ... Right wings Jesse Boulerice and Pavel Brendl, and defenseman Chris McAllister were scratched by the Flyers. ... Defenseman James Patrick and left wing Eric Boulton were scratched for Buffalo. ... Satan scored a short-handed goal for the fourth consecutive season.

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

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News