|
Sabres are the NHL's last unbeaten team
2006-10-21
The Buffalo Sabres are the only remaining team in the NHL with a chance to have a perfect season. They beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Friday night, becoming the first team to start the season with seven straight wins since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1994-95. The Minnesota Wild fell from the ranks of the undefeated Friday night, losing 2-1 to the Anaheim Ducks, and leaving the Sabres alone at the top of the standings. "We know on the inside how good a team we are, but we're not going to talk about it on the outside," Buffalo's Jason Pominville said. "We just want to play hard every night and keep proving to everybody that we are a good team." The win over the defending Stanley Cup champions was Buffalo's 12th consecutive victory, setting a franchise record and surpassing the 11-game winning streak that began at the end of the 1974-75 season. They are one win from matching their best start ever, set in 1975. "We're confident and we know we have a good team," said Thomas Vanek, whose fourth goal of the season broke a 3-3 tie in the third period. "Hopefully we can keep it going." Jaroslav Spacek scored about 2 minutes after Vanek to make it 5-3. Maxim Afinogenov, Pominville and Dmitri Kalinin also scored for the Sabres, who haven't lost a regular-season game since April 7, against Philadelphia. Scott Walker, Eric Staal, Eric Belanger and Mike Commodore had goals for the Hurricanes, who had their three-game winning streak stopped. "You don't go 7-0 by showing up and not competing or not having intensity," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said of the Sabres. "But we can play better than that." In other NHL games on Friday, it was: Dallas 5, Chicago 4; Vancouver 3, St. Louis 2 in overtime; Florida 3, Philadelphia 2; and Toronto 4, Columbus 2. Five of Buffalo's seven victories have come after it has trailed, including Friday night's intense rematch between the teams that advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last season. "We were so close last year, but when you get that close it makes you want to get more and see what that next step is," Pominville said. "Every time we play them they're a challenge ahead of us." Buffalo's Ryan Miller improved to 6-0 by making 16 saves, including stopping Staal on a breakaway 30 seconds into the game. "They're a good team," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said of Carolina. "They won the Cup. They're a heck of a test. They gave us all we could handle." Ducks 2, Wild 1 Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 27 saves and Scott Niedermayer and Sean O'Donnell scored second-period goals for host Anaheim. Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored for Minnesota, closing the gap to 2-1 later in the second period. Wild goalie Manny Fernandez faced 29 shots in losing for the first time in six starts this season. Stars 5, Blackhawks 4 Mike Ribeiro tied the score with 1:14 remaining in the third period and Philippe Boucher got the game-winner with 39 seconds left in regulation as Dallas (6-1) matched the best start in franchise history. Martin Lapointe's goal with 4:31 left gave the visiting Blackhawks a 4-3 lead, but the Stars rallied to continue their dominance over Chicago, improving to 13-0-1 in the teams' last 14 meetings. Canucks 3, Blues 2, OT Vancouver's Markus Naslund converted a power-play goal with 25 seconds left in regulation, then Sami Salo scored with less than a second left in overtime for the win. The clock showed 0:00 after Salo scored and host St. Louis refused to leave the ice for about 2 minutes. The referees reviewed the goal, determining it came before time expired. Vancouver outshot St. Louis 39-19 overall and 6-3 in the overtime. Panthers 3, Flyers 2 Olli Jokinen broke a 2-2 tie late in the second period and Florida handed Philadelphia its fifth straight loss. Ed Belfour had 25 saves for the Panthers, who improved to 4-0 at home for the first time since 1995-96, when they made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Simon Gagne had two goals for the Flyers, who last lost five straight from March 28-April 4, 2002. Maple Leafs 4, Blue Jackets 2 Kyle Wellwood and Michael Peca scored 34 seconds apart in the second period for visiting Toronto. Andrew Raycroft had 23 saves for the Maple Leafs, who gave up 14 goals in its previous three games. Manny Malhotra and Alexander Svitov scored for the Blue Jackets, who had played only one game in the previous 10 days. The game was just the fifth this season for Columbus, the fewest in the NHL.
Blue Jackets defeat Flames in shootout (2006-11-04)Thrashers end 2-game losing streak (2006-11-04)Sabres are the NHL's last unbeaten team (2006-10-21)6 (11285)
| 
