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Flyer killer Michal Grosek ended Philadelphia's season, scoring the series-winning goal 5:40 into overtime as the Buffalo Sabres> advanced with a 3-2 triumph in Game Five of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Behind a stellar effort from Dominik Hasek, the Sabres avenged last year's loss in five games to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Hasek was sidelined with a mysterious injury for that series, but was around this time and stymied Eric Lindros, John LeClair and the potent Philadelphia attack.
With Chris Gratton in the penalty box for high-sticking Matthew Barnaby, Grosek grabbed the puck in the right faceoff circle, skated to the top of the slot and rang a wrist shot off the left goal post. The rebound came directly back to him and he desposited the puck into the top part of the net past a prone Sean Burke.
"It was a great play by Barnaby to draw the penalty," Grosek said. "I passed it to (Miroslav) Satan and he passed it back to me. My first shot hit the post, the rebound came back to my stick and I just put it in. I think it's great for our team and our organization. It's something that we can be proud of, to say that we beat the Flyers."
Grosek has seven career playoff goals, all against the Flyers. He scored four times in the series for the sixth-seeded Sabres, who won twice in Philadelphia.
Gratton explained what happened on the penalty.
"I went for the puck and I don't know whether the stick got lifted or whether I missed his stick," he said. "It was a freak accident and you have to be smarter, I guess."
"After the goal, you go numb," Burke said. "I can't believe the season came to an end that quickly. It's hard to measure the frustration level at this point. It's about as high as it can be."
Hasek used his glove to preserve the game just moments before Grosek ended the series. Shjon Podein streaked up the left wing on a shorthanded breakaway and released a shot from the left circle that Hasek tipped with the edge of his glove, but the puck trickled wide of the net.
The stop was the last of Hasek's 35 saves. Hasek, who has led the NHL in save percentage five straight seasons, stopped 167 of 176 shots for a .948 save percentage in the series.
"This is my first series win in the NHL," Hasek said. "I was very happy. The defense did a great job in front of me. We had lots of confidence going in. During the season, we came back in a lot of games, so we knew we could come back against this team. Yes, we're smaller than they are, but we knew that our forwards were quicker than their defense and that was the key in this series."
The combination of Hasek and Buffalo power play was deadly for the Flyers, who were swept in the Stanley Cup Finals by the Detroit Red Wings and have lost eight of their last nine playoff games.
The Sabres could not score in 20 power-play opportunities against Philadelphia during the regular season, but converted nine times in 32 chances (28.2 percent) in the playoffs.
"The first series in any playoff is the toughest to win," Sabres rookie coach Lindy Ruff said. "It's huge for this young team to win this. There was no quit in any of us. We got outhit at times, we got hit hard at times, but everyone responded. I told our team that after seven months it finally makes sense. The first two months were a huge struggle. There were a lot of things that were tearing this team apart. But it all came together. I think this team learned that if we play as a team and we pay a price for each other, you can pretty well take anybody apart."
Things appeared dim for the Flyers with 11:34 left in regulation when Donald Audette scored a power-play goal to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Audette took a shot from the left circle that Burke saved, but the smallest player on the ice followed his own shot and beat the goaltender with a backhander from close range.
A most unexpected goal-scorer extended the season for Philaldelphia with 6:52 remaining, when veteran Dave Babych, a trade-deadline acquisition from the Vancouver Canucks, tallied on the power-play. It was the first goal this season for Babych, who played in a total of 58 games, including playoffs and had not scored since February 6th, 1997.
Buffalo was 3-of-10 on the power play, getting started 2:29 into the game. Jason Woolley sent a wrist shot from the top of the slot through traffic and it found its way through Burke's pads. Barnaby drew that penalty as well, landing Lindros in the box for an elbow.
The Flyers waited until 1:49 of the second period to tie the score. Alexandre Daigle skated to the bottom of the left circle and crossed the puck to Mike Sillinger, who scored over the sliding Hasek from the right doorstep.
LeClair and Lindros combined for two goals anf three assists in the five games.
"Anytime you lose in overtime, it's disappointing," LeClair said. "We played hard tonight, we didn't get some bounces. We got great goaltending, we just couldn't get the lead. We were up and down all year. We didn't end the season on a great note. We lost the last three games and it was tough to get it going for the playoffs. It's a huge setback. For us, we had high expectations this year. We expected a lot out of ourselves and we didn't produce."
Lindros, with a goal and two assists, had identical numbers to defenseman Dan McGillis.
"I never expected this," Lindros admitted. "We played better tonight, but it still wasn't enough. We didn't create things to make it go our way and they did. They played better than we did. Right now, guys are just absorbing the shock. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. I had much higher expectations heading into these playoffs than what's occurred."
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Buffalo 1 0 1 1--3
Philadelphia 0 1 1 0--2
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FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Buffalo, Woolley 1 (power play) (Barnaby, B
Holzinger), 2:29. Penalties: Lindros, Phi (elbowing), 1:11; Gratton, Phi
(slashing), 7:59; Plante, Buf (high sticking), 9:53; Mcgillis, Phi
(hooking), 16:54.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Sillinger 1 (Daigle), 1:49.
Penalties: Varada, Buf (interference), 5:15; Babych, Phi (hooking), 9:12;
Grosek, Buf (hooking), 13:37; Joseph, Phi (holding), 16:19; Woolley, Buf
(interference), 17:21; B Holzinger, Buf (roughing), 17:21; Podein, Phi
(roughing), 17:21.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Buffalo, Audette 2 (power play) (Peca),
8:26. 4, Philadelphia, Babych 1 (power play) (R Brindamour), 13:08.
Penalties: Leclair, Phi (roughing), 0:11; Brown, Buf (interference), 4:49;
Mcgillis, Phi (interference), 6:40; Woolley, Buf (roughing), 7:09;
Therien, Phi (holding), 8:11; Ward, Buf (roughing), 10:49; B Holzinger,
Buf , 12:29; Grosek, Buf (roughing), 14:36; Podein, Phi (roughing), 14:36;
Audette, Buf (Obstr tripping), 17:25; Mcgillis, Phi (roughing), 17:25.
OVERTIME -- Scoring: 5, Buffalo, Grosek 4 (power play) (Smehlik,
Shannon), 5:40. Penalties: Gratton, Phi (high sticking), 4:09.
Shots on goal:
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Buffalo 9 9 10 1--29
Philadelphia 6 16 12 3--37
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Power-play Conversions: Buf - 3 of 10, Phi - 1 of 7. Goalies: Buffalo,
Hasek (37 shots, 35 saves; record: 4-1-0). Philadelphia, Burke (29, 26;
record: 1-4-0). A:19,798. Referee: P Devorski. Linesmen: Collins, Morin.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Buffalo Philadelphia
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Audette 1 0 -1 2 Babych 1 0 even 1
B Holzinger 0 1 -1 1 Daigle 0 1 +1 1
Barnaby 0 1 even 2 Desjardins 0 0 +1 4
Brown 0 0 -1 1 Forbes 0 0 +1 1
Grosek 1 0 even 7 Gratton 0 0 even 2
Mckee 0 0 -1 0 Joseph 0 0 even 2
Peca 0 1 even 3 Klatt 0 0 even 3
Plante 0 0 even 2 Lacroix 0 0 even 0
Primeau 0 0 even 0 Leclair 0 0 even 2
Ray 0 0 even 0 Lindros 0 0 even 1
Satan 0 0 even 1 Mcgillis 0 0 even 3
Shannon 0 1 even 0 Otto 0 0 even 2
Smehlik 0 1 even 1 Podein 0 0 even 3
Varada 0 0 even 2 R Brindamour 0 1 even 4
Ward 0 0 even 0 Richardson 0 0 even 1
Wilson 0 0 even 3 Sillinger 1 0 +1 2
Woolley 1 0 -1 2 Therien 0 0 +1 5
Zhitnik 0 0 even 2 Zubrus 0 0 even 0
Kruse Knee Injury Svoboda Neck Injury
Boughner Healthy Kordic Healthy
Rasmussen Healthy Druce Healthy
Sanderson Healthy Samuelsson Healthy
Coffey Healthy