Woolley Has Write Stuff in Overtime for Sabres

Two months ago, each member of the Buffalo Sabres was asked to write on a slip of paper what his goals were. Jason Woolley, remembering the sting of the Sabres’ loss to Washington in last year’s Eastern Conference finals, had one wish.

Those slips of paper were pulled out and read aloud a few days ago, and Woolley had to laugh at what he had scribbled.

“I wrote I’d like to make it one step further than last year,” he said. “It seemed so far away. Now that it’s here, it’s awesome.”

It’s even more awesome that Woolley, a decent but hardly Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman, scored the winning goal at 15:30 of overtime Tuesday in the Sabres’ 3-2 triumph over the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Woolley leads the Sabres with 14 points, on four goals and 10 assists, in 16 games.

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The Stars brought in extra dehumidifiers in an effort to keep the air in the arena dry and enable the ice to stay solid longer. The dehumidifiers, however, seemed to have little effect, and players occasionally fell without being touched when they hit a soft spot on the ice.

Colin Campbell, the NHL’s director of hockey operations, told a Canadian television interviewer the ice looked fine midway through the third period. “We have a lot of people working on it,” he said. But as he spoke, the camera was focused on a mound of slush piled up against the boards, evidence of how badly the ice was holding up.

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King General Manager Dave Taylor said Tuesday he is prepared to whittle the list of candidates for the team’s vacant coaching job. He said through club spokesman Mike Altieri he’s thinking about bringing back for second interviews two or three of the five people he has spoken with, and he left open the possibility he may expand his search beyond the original five. However, he hasn’t scheduled meetings with any new applicants.

Taylor has met with former Buffalo coach Ted Nolan, Detroit associate coach Dave Lewis, veteran assistant coach Andy Murray, former Calgary coach Dave King and Long Beach Coach John Van Boxmeer. It’s believed Van Boxmeer and Lewis are the top candidates.

SCHEDULE

Dallas vs. Buffalo

Game 1: Buffalo 3, Dallas 2 (OT)

Game 2: Thursday at Dallas, 5 p.m.

Game 3: Saturday at Buffalo, 5 p.m.

Game 4: Tuesday: at Buffalo, 5 p.m.

Game 5: June 17: at Dallas, 5 p.m.*

Game 6: June 19 at Buffalo, 5 p.m.*

Game 7: June 22 at Dallas, 5 p.m.*

*-if necessary