Scoreboard Crash Sidelines the Sabres

Routine maintenance proved disastrous Saturday afternoon for the $4-million, eight-sided scoreboard at the new Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.

A cable loosened or snapped on the gigantic board as it was being lowered, sending the entire mass crashing to the ice below and forcing postponement of Saturday night’s game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins.

Larry Quinn, the Sabres’ president, said the scoreboard is lowered and checked daily to make sure it is functioning properly. On Saturday, maintenance crews began to lower it electronically at about 2 p.m. No one was on the ice when it fell. The teams had already completed their practice skates.

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Philadelphia Flyer rookie winger Dainius Zubrus will miss Thursday’s game because he has to return to Lithuania to get a new work visa.

Philadelphia’s first-round selection in this year’s draft and the only 18-year-old in the NHL, Zubrus failed to get an extension on his old visa, which expired Sept. 30.

New immigration law signed by President Clinton on Oct. 9 mandates that Zubrus return to his home country for a visa.

“We did everything we could,” said Bob Clarke, the Flyers’ general manager. “But they told us he has to go home.”