Sabres Give Hasek a Rude Reception

Dominik Hasek has many great memories of Buffalo. Sunday’s homecoming won’t be among them.

Pulled 40 minutes into a 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the goalie spent the final period alone in the Detroit Red Wing dressing room riding an exercise bike.

“What can I say? I was excited to be back, but disappointed after the game,” Hasek said. “We were a little sluggish, and I didn’t have my best game either. The way we played, we had no chance of beating them.”

Hasek gave up four goals on the first 12 shots he faced in his first trip back to Buffalo, where the six-time Vezina Trophy-winner spent nine seasons before being traded to Detroit in July.

The Sabres, labeled by Hasek as noncontenders upon his departure from Buffalo, came out strong and focused in beating the league’s top team. Miroslav Satan scored twice and Buffalo won its third in a row, winning for the first time against Detroit in 12 games (1-10-1).

The loss ended Detroit’s franchise-record eight-game winning streak on the road. Hasek had a 15-game (13-0-2) unbeaten streak ended.

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New York Islanders 6, Atlanta 1--Roman Hamrlik and Michael Peca each scored two goals at Uniondale, N.Y., helping the Islanders end a three-game losing streak.

The Thrashers lost their fifth in a row and are 0-6-1 in their last seven road games.

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Washington 4, Edmonton 2--Peter Bondra had his first three-goal game this season, and Dmitri Khristich scored the game-winner 4:16 into the third period at Washington.

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Minnesota 5, Columbus 0--Marian Gaborik scored three goals at St. Paul, Minn., and the Wild won its third in a row.

Gaborik has scored seven goals in four games for the Wild. Dwayne Roloson stopped all 14 shots he faced for his second consecutive shutout and fifth this season.

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New Jersey 3, Dallas 0--Martin Brodeur stopped 22 shots at Dallas for his 54th career shutout and the Devils ended a three-game skid.

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Toronto 3, Philadelphia 1--Darcy Tucker scored twice and Corey Schwab had to make only 16 saves for the Maple Leafs at Philadelphia.

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Tampa Bay 5, Nashville 1--Brad Richards scored one goal for the Lightning at Tampa, Fla., giving him five goals and 12 points in a six-game point streak.

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San Jose 7, Vancouver 4--Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov capped San Jose’s scoring with an empty-net goal with 47.2 seconds to play at Vancouver, Canada.

Nabokov, who finished with 26 saves, scored from the top of his crease while Canuck goaltender Peter Skudra was off for the extra skater.