For Hasek, It’s Back to NHL Reality

After leading the Czech Republic to the Olympic gold medal and traveling 40 hours by plane from Nagano, Japan, Dominik Hasek was seconds away from completing the circle.

But Mathieu Schneider’s goal with 4.1 seconds remaining in regulation lifted the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-2 tie with Buffalo, despite the Sabre goaltender’s brilliant performance Wednesday night at Buffalo, N.Y.

“Emotionally, after the Olympics, I was a little bit down,” Hasek said. “Once in a while in the locker room, I was thinking about the Olympics. During the game, I was focused.”

Playing in his first game since winning the gold medal on Sunday, Hasek stopped 33 shots after two days of celebration and travel from Japan to the Czech Republic and back to Buffalo.

Pittsburgh 6, Montreal 2--Jaromir Jagr and Stu Barnes scored two goals each as the Penguins defeated the Canadiens at Montreal.

Ron Francis and Robert Lang also scored for the Penguins, who broke open a 2-2 game with a pair of goals late in the second period.

New Jersey 3, Florida 2--Denis Pederson’s power-play goal keyed a three-goal second period as the Devils defeated the Panthers at Miami.

The Devils, top team in the Eastern Conference with a 35-16-6 record, stretched their winning streak to four games and unbeaten streak to five.

Tampa Bay 4, Washington 3--Alexander Selivanov’s goal with 7.4 seconds to play lifted the Lightning past the Capitals at Washington.

It was his second goal of the game and 12th of the season and ended the Lightning’s 16-game winless streak.

Dallas 4, New York Islanders 1--Ed Belfour stopped 21 shots as the Stars rolled past the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

Pat Verbeek, Jere Lehtinen, Juha Lind and Mike Modano scored for the Stars, who own the league’s best overall record (37-13-8).

Edmonton 5, Ottawa 2--Tony Hrkac scored twice at Edmonton as the Oilers extended their winning streak against the Senators to six games.

Doug Weight, Bill Guerin and Roman Hamrlik also scored for Edmonton.

Colorado 4, Phoenix 2--Uwe Krupp scored his first goal in two months to lift the Avalanche past the Coyotes at Phoenix.

Peter Forsberg, Sandis Ozolinsh and Claude Lemieux also scored for the Avalanche, who won for the sixth time in seven games and pulled ahead of Detroit for second place in the Western Conference.