Saturday, May 5 1:00pm ET
Barnes scores second straight game-winner
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Buffalo's Stu Barnes doesn't have anything
against his former team. The Pittsburgh Penguins probably don't
agree.
With his second consecutive game-winner, Barnes capped a
three-goal comeback, slapping a 40-footer in off the crossbar 8:34
into overtime to seal the Sabres' 3-2 victory Saturday.
|  | | Dominik Hasek's sprawling save on Pittsburgh's Rene Corbet late in the third period was one of the goalie's biggest stops in Game 5. |
Suddenly, the Sabres are up 3-2 in the best-of-seven
second-round series, one win from reaching the Eastern Conference
finals for the third time in four years. Game 6 is Tuesday in
Pittsburgh, where the Sabres won the previous two games by a
combined score of 9-3.
"For us, I don't feel like we've accomplished anything yet,"
said Barnes, who spent parts of three seasons in Pittsburgh before
being acquired by the Sabres late in the 1998-99 season. "We feel
that this is a dangerous team we're playing. You just go down the
lineup there. They've got so many guys that can score goals that
we're going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight."
After a flat start, the Sabres got two fortunate bounces off
Penguins players to tie it. There was nothing lucky about Barnes'
goal.
J.P. Dumont outworked Pittsburgh defender Bob Boughner for a
loose puck just inside the Pittsburgh zone, and batted it back to
Barnes, who was just crossing the blue line.
Without stopping, Barnes wound up and beat goalie Johan Hedberg
just over the left shoulder. Barnes, who has four goals and five
points in the series, also scored the winner in Buffalo's 5-2
victory in Game 4.
"I was just going to let it go," Barnes said. "I had a chance
early in the second period. I passed it off and should have shot
it. From there, you've got to let it go."
The Sabres became the first team to win a home game in the
series.
The Penguins now face the ghosts of last year's playoffs. After
winning the first two games at Philadelphia in their second-round
series, the Penguins lost the next four.
"Somebody told me that history does not repeat," Penguins
captain Jaromir Jagr said. "I believe that."
After hurting his shoulder in Game 1 and missing the next two
games of the series, Jagr had his most solid game against the
Sabres.
Along with opening the scoring, Jagr showed some emotion – wrestling Sabres checking center Curtis Brown to the ice in the
second period. Both received roughing penalties.
Aleksey Morozov also scored, giving the Penguins a 2-0 lead 2:36
into the second period.
The Sabres, who scored three third-period goals in each of their
last two wins, rallied once again.
Chris Gratton's power-play goal cut the lead to 2-1 midway
through the second period when his shot from the right circle
glanced in off the skate of Pittsburgh's Ian Moran.
Things really went against Pittsburgh when Brown tied it with a
bizarre shorthanded goal with 8:44 in regulation.
Attempting to cut to the net around Pittsburgh's Martin Straka,
Brown backhanded a weak pass into the middle. The puck glanced off
the skate of Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev and toward the net, slowly
slipping through Hedberg's legs.
The goalie first tried to stop the puck with his blocker but
missed. Hedberg then reached out with his glove, accidentally
punching the puck over the line.
Referring to Kovalev, Hedberg said: "We ran into each other and
somehow the puck kept rolling and rolling. I couldn't find it until
the last second."
Said Brown, who also scored a shorthanded goal on Wednesday:
"You need those bounces and breaks. I guess if you don't get it to
the net, good things aren't going to happen. Definitely we needed
that."
The Penguins need to rebound.
"I don't know what happened," Jagr said. "It's not over.
Anything's possible. We know we can play those guys, even if we're
down 3-2. I've still got a lot of confidence in our team."
Game notes
The Penguins made one lineup change, inserting C Milan
Kraft in place of D Marc Bergevin, who sat out his first game of
the playoffs. Kraft, making his NHL playoff debut, was called up
Friday from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he led the team with 12
goals and 16 points in the American Hockey League playoffs. ...
Sabres D Dmitri Kalinin has a plus-minus rating of plus-4, leading
all rookies in the playoffs. ... Lemieux's assist gave him 178
career playoff points, moving him ahead of former Montreal captain
Jean Beliveau, and into a tie with Buffalo's Doug Gilmour for
seventh on the NHL career list.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Buffalo Clubhouse
Penguins-Sabres Series Page
Shactman: Pittsburgh boxed in by Buffalo
RECAPS
Buffalo 3
Pittsburgh 2
Toronto 3
New Jersey 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Stu Barnes rips a slap shot past Johan Hedberg for the game-winner in OT.
avi: 1439 k
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'Cable Modem
Jaromir Jagr sets up Mario Lemieux, but Dominik Hasek is there for the save.
avi: 1493 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Buffalo's Curtis Brown sneaks one through the 5-hole of Johan Hedberg to tie the score at 2-2.
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'Cable Modem
Chris Gratton scores for Buffalo.
avi: 927 k
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'Cable Modem
Jaromir Jagr takes the feed from Mario Lemieux and fires the puck past Dominik Hasek.
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'Cable Modem
Alexei Morozov flips the puck behind Dominik Hasek for the goal.
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'Cable Modem
 ABC's Brian Engblom talks with Buffalo's Game 5 hero Stu Barnes.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Lindy Ruff describes the Sabres' game-winning goal.
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