-------------------------------
Buffalo 0 1 0 1--2
Ottawa 0 1 0 0--1
-------------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Zamuner, Ott (Obstr holding),
9:38.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Buffalo, Satan 17 (S Barnes, Dumont), 1:03.
2, Ottawa, Yashin 24 (Hossa, Arvedson), 17:25. Penalties: Warrener, Buf
(holding stick), 2:21; Yashin, Ott (high sticking), 11:29.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: None.
OVERTIME -- Scoring: 3, Buffalo, Afinogenov 11 (Warrener, Rasmussen),
1:52.
Shots on goal:
------------------------------------
Buffalo 6 8 8 1--23
Ottawa 13 9 10 1--33
------------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Buf - 0 of 2, Ott - 0 of 1. Goalies: Buffalo,
Hasek (33 shots, 32 saves; record: 21-17-4). Ottawa, Lalime (23, 21;
record: 21-13-4). A:18,500. Referees: B Mccreary, Ohalloran. Linesmen:
Amell, Scapinello.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Buffalo Ottawa
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Afinogenov 1 0 +1 2 Alfredsson 0 0 even 3
Andreychuk 0 0 even 3 Arvedson 0 1 +1 3
Brown 0 0 even 4 Bonk 0 0 even 1
C Gratton 0 0 even 1 Ciernik 0 0 even 0
Dumont 0 1 even 1 Dackell 0 0 -1 2
Gilmour 0 0 even 0 Fisher 0 0 even 1
Kalinin 0 0 even 1 Havlat 0 0 -1 1
Mckee 0 0 +1 3 Hnidy 0 0 even 1
Rasmussen 0 1 +1 0 Hossa 0 1 even 2
Ray 0 0 even 1 Mceachern 0 0 -1 5
S Barnes 0 1 even 1 Persson 0 0 +1 2
Satan 1 0 even 2 Phillips 0 0 -1 2
Smehlik 0 0 even 0 Rachunek 0 0 -2 0
Taylor 0 0 even 1 Redden 0 0 even 2
Varada 0 0 even 0 Rivers 0 0 even 1
Warrener 0 1 +1 2 Roy 0 0 even 0
Woolley 0 0 even 1 Yashin 1 0 even 3
Zhitnik 0 0 even 0 Zamuner 0 0 even 4
Patrick Healthy Forbes Healthy
Boulton Healthy York Ankle Injury
Tsyplakov Healthy Emmons Healthy
Game Story
OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Maxim Afinogenov scored his second straight
overtime goal, tallying 1:52 into the extra session to give the
Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 victory over the slumping Ottawa Senators.
Erik Rasmussen again set up the play, beating rookie defenseman
Karel Rachunek at the Senators' blue line. Rasmussen's shot
from the slot was blocked into the corner by defenseman Chris
Phillips.
But Rhett Warrener digged out the puck and passed to the bottom
of the left faceoff circle to Afinogenov, who poked a shot under
goaltender Patrick Lalime's pads for the game-winner.
On Wednesday, Afinogenov scored off Rasmussen's feed on a 3-on-1
break 42 seconds into overtime to give the Sabres a 2-1 victory
over the New York Islanders.
"I said to (Afinogenov), `Let's see if you can do it again,'"
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "Then I purposely left Rasmussen
out there with him to see if there was some magic left."
Buffalo posted its third straight victory and pulled within six
points of first-place Ottawa in the Northeast Division. The
Senators earned a point but are winless in their last five
contests (0-2-2-1).
"We figured it would be tight-checking and low-scoring," Ruff
added. "Control seemed to go back and forth as we traded
chances, and there weren't many of those. It was a typical
Ottawa-Buffalo game."
"We're disappointed every time we lose, but tonight we feel like
we had lots of chances," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said.
"We hit a couple of posts and we should have had the win."
Dominek Hasek stopped 32 shots, snapping a personal eight-game
winless streak in Ottawa. He recorded his first victory at the
Corel Centre since March 1, 1997.
"I'm glad we won after I don't know how many games in this
building," Hasek said. "The coach was upset after the first and
he screamed at us a little. I think it helped us."
After Buffalo was outshot 13-6 in a lackluster first period,
Miroslav Satan gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead, converting his own
rebound 63 seconds into the second period. Lalime made a
blocker save on Satan's slap shot from the right circle, but
Satan stormed the crease and poked the puck past the fallen
goalie.
"I wasn't happy with the first period," Ruff said. "We're tired
of losing in this building. I challenged the guys to pay the
price and they responded well."
"Winning helps our confidence," Hasek added, "but we were also a
bit lucky tonight. We can't win all of our games in overtime."
Alexei Yashin tied it for the Senators with 2:35 left in the
second. He took a pass from All-Star Marian Hossa, skated into
the left circle and snapped a high wrist shot that beat Hasek to
the stick side for his 24th of the season.
Lalime, who turned aside 21 shots, remained one win shy of the
Senators' single-season record of 22, shared by Damian Rhodes
and Ron Tugnutt in 1998-99.
Ottawa remained one point behind New Jersey in the battle for
first place in the Eastern Conference.
"We're playing some tougher teams right now," Alfredsson said.
"We think it's good for us. It's an important test, a couple of
months away from the playoffs."
Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden hit the goalpost with 12:36 left
in the third period. With four minutes to go, Yashin appeared
to have an open net on a wraparound attempt, but he seemed to
lose control of the puck and Hasek was able to make a diving
stop.
Buffalo center Stu Barnes suffered a pulled muscle in his rib
cage and is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against
Montreal.