Toronto Foiled in Attempt to Even Series With Buffalo

If Dominik Hasek’s groin injury is bothering him, it is difficult to tell.

For the second consecutive game, the Buffalo Sabres protected their star goalie with dogged checking, and Geoff Sanderson scored twice in a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Sanderson’s goals highlighted a four-goal second period as Buffalo took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals, which resume Monday night in Toronto. The Sabres are one victory away from making the Stanley Cup finals for only the second time since the team entered the NHL in 1970.

Hasek was rarely tested even in making 31 saves. He had made 24 saves in Buffalo’s 4-2 victory in Game 3 after sitting out the first two games because of an injured groin.

And like Game 3, the Sabres assumed command Saturday when their relentless attack forced the Maple Leaf defense into mistake after mistake in front of beleaguered goalie Curtis Joseph.

“We really set the tone,” Buffalo Coach Lindy Ruff said. “The key to it all was we came out skating hard. We came at them in waves.

“It’s been the key to the series. We’ve been very opportunistic and we took advantage of some careless giveaways. You’ve got to realize that every game there’s going to be 10 or 12 mistakes. It’s whether you score on them or not.”

The Sabres did.

Brian Holzinger began the second-period barrage at 2:51, intercepting a bad cross-ice pass by Steve Sullivan in the slot and beating Joseph between his pads to give Buffalo a 2-0.

Toronto’s hopes of a comeback were dealt a serious blow when Rob Ray scored at 5:04 on a nifty backhand deflection in front of Joseph. It was Ray’s first goal in 111 games.

Sanderson scored 22 seconds later on the rebound of a shot by Miroslav Satan and got his other goal with less than six minutes remaining in the period.

The Maple Leafs had rebounded from 2-1 deficits to win their previous two series against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but this time their luck may have run out.

“They beat us to every loose puck. They initiated every hit,” said Mats Sundin, who scored both Toronto goals in the third period. “Every play for the first two periods, it looked like our heads were somewhere else, like we were too tense to play.”

The game nearly turned into a slugfest early when Kevyn Adams rammed Hasek at 12:53 of the first, then Hasek was whistled for interfering with Mike Johnson behind the Buffalo net less than two minutes later.

That gave Toronto its first good chance to score the important first goal. But with the Maple Leafs pressing the attack on the ensuing power play, the Sabres struck for their second short-handed goal in two games.

Sergei Berezin tried to stop a Buffalo clearing pass at the right point, but the puck deflected off his stick into center ice. Dixon Ward scooped it up in full stride, skated in hard on right wing and beat Joseph through his legs with a low drive at 16:15. Hasek was credited with an assist on the play.