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BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH (AP) – So the Buffalo Sabres do have some offense –
and the Pittsburgh Penguins don't have nearly as much as they
thought without the injured Jaromir Jagr.
|  | | Buffalo's Curtis Brown leaps over Aleksey Morozov in the third period of Game 3. |
Jason Woolley's tip-in midway through the third period broke a
tie, and the Sabres rediscovered their offense to avoid going down
three games, beating the Penguins 4-1 Monday night.
The Sabres trailed 2-0 in the series and 1-0 in the second
period until solving rookie goaltender Johan Hedberg twice in the
third period. They added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
The Sabres had scored on only 1 of 64 shots before finally
coming alive against Hedberg, the former Manitoba Moose goalie who
was cheered on by thousands of fans wearing golden foam moose
antlers in his honor.
"We did what they did to us," said Doug Gilmour, who assisted
on the decisive goal. "When they came into our building, they
waited and waited, and when they had some chances they capitalized.
We had to be patient, too."
Curtis Brown tied it at 13:04 of the second period, and goalie
Dominik Hasek shut down Pittsburgh's ineffective offense before
Woolley, a former Penguins player, got the go-ahead goal at 9:51.
Miroslav Satan carried the puck into the Penguins end, shot and
missed, but grabbed his own rebound, allowing Gilmour to steer the
puck from behind the net to an open Woolley at the right side of
the crease. It was Woolley's first playoff goal since June 8, 1999,
during the Stanley Cup finals in Dallas and gave Buffalo its first
lead of the series.
"The third game had to come our way, if it doesn't we're in a
lot of trouble and we know that," Woolley said. "I think you have
to give our guys credit for not trying to force the envelope. We
were able to put aside the thought that losing this game would put
us in deep trouble."
Satan prevented any Penguins comeback with a wraparound goal at
13:03 off a rebound after Maxim Afinogenov faked defenseman Darius
Kasparaitis off his skates with a drive to the net.
James Patrick added an empty-net goal to make it 4-1.
The Penguins' offense clearly badly missed Jagr, the five-time
NHL scoring champion who sat out his second successive game with a
shoulder or rotator cuff problem. Pittsburgh also was without Josef
Beranek (arm), who effectively replaced Jagr in Game 2.
With the seldom-used Rene Corbet unable to make up Jagr's
missing offense on the Mario Lemieux line, the Penguins were held
to 20 shots, 12 after the first period.
"Any time you're missing your best player, it's going to
hurt," said Lemieux, who was held scoreless. "He'll be back when
he's back."
The Penguins hope it will be for Game 4 Wednesday night in
Pittsburgh, where the Penguins had been 8-1-3 against Buffalo since
1996 -- with the only victory coming Dec. 2 -- until Monday.
"In Philadelphia (in the first round), we won the two games
there, and if we are to have a chance in this series, I think we
have to do the same thing here," Satan said. "We don't want to go
home 3-1."
Pittsburgh had plenty of good scoring chances despite being
outshot 9-8 in the first period, clanging three shots off the
posts, before taking a 1-0 lead for the third straight game.
With Woolley in the box after a slashing penalty well behind the
play, Andrew Ference's slap shot from the right point deflected off
Kevin Stevens' stick at 5:34 of the second for Stevens' third goal
of the postseason.
"We had a chance to bury them early," Stevens said. "But I
don't think they stole a game. They jumped on us good. Maybe we
could have had four goals in the first period, but they could have
had seven in the second."
The Sabres, warned by coach Lindy Ruff to play with a sense of
urgency but not an air of desperation that could result in too much
cautious play, finally tied it on Brown's deflection off Ference's
leg.
Penguins defenseman Marc Bergevin couldn't clear the puck, and
Brown put a hard shot on net from along the edge of the right
circle that deflected past Hedberg inside the near post at 13:04.
"They got the bounces that we got the first two games,"
Hedberg said, referring to a pair of Penguins goals that bounced
off Sabres players in a 3-1 victory in Game 2. "Sometimes it's
going to go that way."
Game notes
With Buffalo D Jay McKee (concussion) out at least a week,
Richard Smehlik returned from an ankle injury. ... Buffalo D Alexei
Zhitnik, playing despite a concussion also sustained in Game 2, led
the Sabres in ice time. ... The Sabres are 0-15 after going down
2-0 in a playoff series. ... Buffalo was 0-for-6 on the power play
and is 1-for-18 in the series. ... Pittsburgh had previously
outscored its opponents 8-3 in the third period. ... The Penguins
have yielded 11 goals in their last three home playoff games. They
are 4-1 on the road but only 2-2 at home.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Buffalo Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Sabres-Penguins Series Page
Jagr ends injury mystery, says it's strained shoulder
Jagr sits out Game 3 vs. Sabres
RECAPS
Buffalo 4
Pittsburgh 1
Colorado 4
Los Angeles 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Buffalo's Jason Woolley scores on a Doug Gilmour centering pass in the third.
avi: 1040 k
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'Cable Modem
The Sabres' Miroslav Satan puts the game out of reach with a wraparound goal.
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'Cable Modem
Kevin Stevens puts the Penguins on the board with a sweet redirection.
avi: 1460 k
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'Cable Modem
Curtis Brown one-times a James Patrick feed past Johan Hedberg for a Sabres' goal.
avi: 1350 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Dominik Hasek was able to shut down the Penguins in the first with a little skill and a lot of luck.
avi: 1560 k
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'Cable Modem
 After a dismal first period, Dominik Hasek felt the Sabres dominated the game (Courtesy: Empire Sports).
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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