Hasek Continues a December to Remember
Another cold December night. Another victory for the Buffalo Sabres and goaltender Dominik Hasek.
Hasek continued his December dominance, recording a 2-0 shutout over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night at Buffalo, N.Y.
The victory moves the Sabres into first place in the Northeast Division with 41 points, just ahead of Toronto. The Sabres trail only Dallas, New Jersey and Phoenix in points.
“I’m glad tomorrow is Christmas Eve,” said Hasek, whose team gets two days off and then plays three games in five nights starting with the Devils on the road Saturday. “After a win it’s much more fun.”
Hasek made 38 saves, including 16 in the second period and 13 in the third.
“This guy is God,” Lightning Coach Jacques Demers said of Hasek, who weathered 13:46 minutes of Tampa Bay power plays including 1:13 of a two-man advantage. “He’s on a different planet.”
Hasek recorded the 39th shutout of his career, and the 15th in the month of December. He has three shutouts and an 8-1-1 record this month.
Brian Holzinger and Miroslav Satan scored for the Sabres, who extended their unbeaten streak against the Lightning to nine games (8-0-1), including a five-game winning streak.
Hasek leads the NHL in wins with 17 and in shutouts with six. The Sabres have allowed an NHL-best 18 goals in 14 home games this season.
Nashville 5, Detroit 3--Rookie Tomas Vokoun, subbing again for the injured Mike Dunham, made 50 saves as the expansion Predators stunned the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions at Nashville.
It was the fourth straight loss for Detroit, which has been outscored, 18-7, in that span. The defeat was also the Red Wings’ ninth on the road. Last season, Detroit did not lose its ninth road game until March 5.
Vokoun won his third game in relief of the injured Dunham for Nashville.
Cliff Ronning and Scott Walker had two goals apiece for the Predators.
New Jersey 4, St. Louis 2--Bobby Holik continued his recent goal onslaught by scoring three times to lead the surging Devils at East Rutherford, N.J.
The hat trick was Holik’s first in five years and third of his nine-year career. It gave him 12 goals in the last 11 games and a team-high 15 for the season.
Scott Niedermayer also scored and Martin Brodeur, who played despite sore ribs, made 23 saves for the Devils, who have only lost once in 11 games (7-1-3).
The Blues had a three-game unbeaten streak snapped (2-0-1).
Philadelphia 2, Boston 1--John LeClair scored his 22nd goal and set up Eric Desjardins’ game-winner early in the third period at Boston as the Flyers extended their unbeaten streak to six games.
The Flyers improved to 3-0-3 in their last six and halted Boston’s three-game winning streak.
Boston’s Byron Dafoe, who entered the game with the league’s fourth-best goals against average, made 30 stops, including a number of spectacular saves.
John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 28 shots for the Flyers.
Washington 4, Florida 0--Brian Bellows and Calle Johansson scored power-play goals and Olaf Kolzig notched his third shutout for the Capitals at Sunrise, Fla.
The loss deprived Florida of its first three-game winning streak of the season and the Panthers finished a season-long six-game homestand at 3-2-1.
Kolzig had 29 saves for his 10th career shutout.
Vancouver 5, Calgary 2--Markus Naslund scored two goals and added an assist at Vancouver, Canada, as the injury-plagued Canucks won their second game in consecutive nights from the Flames.
NHL rookie scoring leader Bill Muckalt had a goal and an assist, Brad May set up two goals, while goalie Garth Snow stopped 18 shots as the Canucks moved three points ahead of the Flames in the Western Conference standings and into a seventh-place tie with the St. Louis Blues.
Carolina 1, N.Y. Rangers 0--Ray Sheppard scored his 14th goal of the season 38 seconds into the third period, and Arturs Irbe stopped 29 shots to lead the Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers had just killed a penalty when Sheppard intercepted an errant clearing pass at the right circle and beat goaltender Mike Richter with a wrist shot high to the glove side.
Irbe registered his third shutout in the last six games and fifth of the season, extending his career total to 18.
Dallas 5, Toronto 1--Mike Modano scored three goals at Toronto as the Stars snapped the Leafs’ three-game winning streak and extended their own unbeaten run to 10 games.
Jere Lehtinen had three points, including a goal, while Brett Hull scored the other goal and added an assist for Dallas, 7-0-3 in its last 10.
Defenseman Derian Hatcher added two assists.
Ottawa 3, Montreal 1--Magnus Arvedson scored with 3:05 left as the Senators beat the struggling Canadiens at Kanata, Canada.
Shawn McEachern and Alexei Yashin also scored for Ottawa, which won for only the second time--both against the Canadiens--in seven games against Northeast Division foes.
Montreal is winless (0-6-5) in its last 11 games.
Chicago 4, Phoenix 3--Doug Gilmour scored twice and Tony Amonte notched his league-leading 23rd in a four-goal second period as the Blackhawks beat the Coyotes at Chicago.
The Blackhawks snapped a five-game winless streak and three-game losing streak in beating the Coyotes, who came into the game with the second-best record in the NHL.
San Jose 5, Edmonton 3--Marco Sturm had three goals and two assists as the Sharks extended their winning streak to three games with a victory at Edmonton, Canada.
The line of Sturm, left wing Jeff Friesen and right wing Alex Korolyuk combined for 11 points for the Sharks. Friesen and Korolyuk had a goal and two assists apiece.