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Game2 Tuesday Night!!! In Toronto at 7:30
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From Canadian Press
Posted: 17:01 ET; May 25, 1999
TORONTO - The Air Canada Centre was abuzz following the pre-game announcement that Dominik Hasek, Buffalo�s all-world goaltender, would not play.
Maple Leafs fans figured, after they learned that unheralded backup Dwayne Roloson was the surprise starter, that a Game 1 victory in the NHL�s Eastern Conference final was in the bag. With their own star goalie, Curtis Joseph, ready to go, they imagined that the Sabres would surely fall Sunday afternoon.
No way.
Roloson, who had never started an NHL playoff game and who had never beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs, rose to the occasion. He outplayed Joseph and helped Buffalo to a 5-4 victory.
Toronto outshot Buffalo 32-21.
"I tried not to get too happy or too excited," Roloson, 29, of Simcoe, Ont., said of his reaction upon being informed hours before game time that Hasek couldn�t play because of a groin injury. "I�m not Dom and I�m never going to say I�m Dom, so I just went out to do my best."
He admitted to being a bundle of nerves when the first puck was dropped.
"I was pretty nervous at first, pretty shaky, but I calmed down after they scored and tried to settle in from there," Roloson said. "Coming in here, near my hometown and with a lot of friends and family at the game, it was nice to win."
The sum of Roloson�s NHL post-season experience had been a 19-minute mop-up job the previous Sunday in Boston during a second-round loss to the Bruins.
Vaclav Varada, Dixon Ward, Stu Barnes, Curtis Brown and Geoff Sanderson scored for the Sabres.
Mats Sundin, with two goals, Bryan Berard and Steve Thomas scored for Toronto, which let a 3-2 lead slip away.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Toronto.
Roloson�s teammates insisted they weren�t worried that Hasek would be relegated to spectator status.
"We�re fully confident in Dwayne Roloson�s ability," said captain Mike Peca. "Time and time again he made some big saves.
"He gave us a heck of an effort."
Toronto was 3-for-9 on power plays, and Buffalo 1-for-4. But despite being outshot and despite the power-plays edge for the Leafs, the Sabres prevailed.
"That wasn�t typical Buffalo Sabres hockey," said Ward, alluding to the wide-open play that characterized much of the 60 minutes. "But we proved we can play that kind of hockey.
"We went out and scored five goals, which was extremely important for this team."
It was the biggest offensive output of the playoffs for the Sabres.
"We�ve had a lot of practice all year stepping over stuff that has been thrown in front of us," said Ward. "We just take it in stride.
"I don�t even think the Dominik news even bothered anybody. We got more excited when we found out Rollie was going to get a chance to play because we like him and respect him so much and we were happy for him he was going to get a chance to contribute. We knew he was going to do a really good job."
Thomas�s power-play goal with six minutes remaining had the capacity crowd of 18,800 screaming for an equalizer. But Roloson and the Sabres hung on.
Joseph admitted to having better games.
"It seemed like everything they touched turned to goal," he said. "They�re opportunists.
"They made some good shots. I needed to make the big save at the right time and unfortunately that didn�t work out."
Said teammate Tie Domi: "We left Cujo hanging dry a few teams. He didn�t see a few shots and that�s our responsibility. We should try to get one (win) back for him."
Varada and Sundin traded goals nine seconds apart in the fifth minute of the game and Buffalo led 2-1 at the break after Ward�s long slapshot went in and Roloson stopped Sergei Berezin on a breakaway.
Power-play goals by Sundin and Berard gave Toronto a 3-2 lead midway through the second period, but Barnes countered on a Buffalo power play. After two periods, it was all even, 3-3, on the scoreboard.
Brown regained the lead for Buffalo, 4-3, 5:21 into the third period. Some sloppy work behind his own net by Tomas Kaberle allowed Erik Rasmussen to shovel the puck out front and Brown lifted it under the crossbar. It was the third Buffalo goal to beat Joseph high.
"It�s another prime example: we never give up," Brown said afterwards.
With 10 minutes left, Bohonos hit a post with a shot. A minute later, Sanderson put on a burst of speed to stickhandle past Sylvain Cote and, taking a flip shot with one hand on his stick as he skated past the crease, beat Joseph for his first post-season goal this spring.
"We can�t look for excuses," said Berard. "We have some breakdowns on our defensive coverage."
"We shot ourselves in the foot," said Sundin. "We had a chance to win.
"We just didn�t score on our chances."
NOTES: Buffalo outhit Toronto 42-35 . . . The Leafs committed 28 giveaways, the Sabres 11 . . . Barnes had gone 17 regular-season games after being acquired March 11 from Pittsburgh for Matthew Barnaby and 10 playoff games without a goal . . . Domi returned to Toronto�s lineup after missing the last three games of the Pittsburgh series with a groin strain, and Steve Sullivan was in again after missing four games with back spasms. Adam Mair and Ladislav Kohn were dropped . . . Miroslav Satan, who led Buffalo with 40 regular-season goals, has missed eight games since taking a puck on an ankle in a first-round game April 25 against Ottawa. He says he�s close to being ready and might come back Tuesday.
� The Canadian Press, 1999
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Curtis will be great on Tuesday!!!
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Leafs look to reduce mistakes
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From Canadian Press
Posted: 10:14 ET; May 25, 1999
TORONTO - Dominik Hasek, Dwayne Roloson, Mickey Mouse - it won�t matter who the Buffalo Sabres start in goal in Game 2 of the NHL�s Eastern Conference final if the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to make mistakes.
The Sabres won Game 1 Sunday, 5-4, not because Roloson turned in any superhuman effort as a surprise starter in place of the groin-grounded Hasek. They won because Toronto defencemen made rookie errors that their shooters converted into goals with high shots that turned Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph from Cujo to Pluto.
"We made a lot of mistakes in our own end and it wound up costing us the hockey game," captain Mats Sundin said after practice Monday. "There were times we had the puck under control and gave it away and they capitalized.
"We have to play a lot better in our own end if we�re going to win" Game 2 Tuesday night.
Nobody was laying the blame on Joseph�s doorstep.
"We�ve seen him make so many great saves that when four or five get past him there�s a tendency for some to say, �Well, he must have played lousy.� But I wouldn�t fault him on any of their goals," said Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "We gave up three goals on turnovers.
"We weren�t executing like we should have. We didn�t play defence as well as we needed to."
Said winger Garry Valk: "We haven�t played that badly in our own end in quite a while."
Daniil Markov had two clearing attempts picked off for goals, and Tomas Kaberle was outmanoeuvred behind the Leafs� net on another Buffalo goal.
"Danny has had a very strong playoffs, but he�s just a young guy under a lot of pressure," said defence partner Dimitri Yushkevich. "He knows he made mistakes and he wants to play better (Tuesday night)."
Toronto lost openers on home ice against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, too, and won both those earlier rounds in six games.
"We know we�re behind the eight ball from the standpoint of being down a game," said Quinn. "We haven�t been down 2-0, and it�s not an inviting proposition. So, we�ll have to play a better game."
A long break after eliminating Pittsburgh last Tuesday might have been detrimental, Joseph suggested.
"We had six days off and there�s no Jaromir Jagr anymore," he said. "It�s a different game out there with the Sabres.
"We�re looking to rebound."
Unless Hasek makes a miraculous recovery overnight, Roloson or Martin Biron will be in goal for the Sabres.
"If anything, it should be good for us if he can�t play," Sundin said of Hasek�s status. "But you can�t forget about playing defence, no matter who�s in net for the other team."
Seeing Roloson starting in goal for the Sabres in Game 1 definitely had an impact on the Leafs. They decided they could storm Buffalo�s net to grab an early lead. It never happened.
"Maybe we got carried away with our offensive game and forgot about defence," said blue-liner Bryan Berard. "But we�ll change that."
The Sabres� aggressive forechecking contributed to the turnovers by Toronto�s defencemen, Berard said. Of the 28 Toronto giveaways, 17 were by defencemen and Joseph.
"They came at us and got good jumps on us," Berard said. "I don�t think our defence was ready for it.
"We thought we�d have a little more time back there with the puck."
Said centre Steve Sullivan: "There are a few little adjustments we have to make, and we�re going to have to make them quickly. Going down 2-0 going into Buffalo is not something we can afford to do. We�re going to have to win (Tuesday night)."
� The Canadian Press, 1999
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The Leafs will rock tonight.
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My interests:- Comedy
- History
- Music: Blues
- Sports: Ice Hockey
- Sports: Mountain Biking
Hi Monica!!!
Twice in the third period, Jaromir Jagr raced into Toronto�s zone with the puck on his stick, and both times defenceman Dimitri Yushkevich caught the Pittsburgh star and muscled him out of the play.
Nullifying Jagr was a key to a 4-1 victory Saturday night that put the Maple Leafs up 3-2 in the NHL Eastern Conference semifinal. Yushkevich played a tremendous game.
"My teammates helped cover for me so it wasn�t that hard," the Russian modestly offered afterwards. "I just tried to play against him like I play against anybody in the league but always keeping in mind he�s the best player in the world.
"He�s a very strong guy and I try not to get involved with him physically in the neutral zone because if I lose my body position on him I lose everything. So I try to Leafs' McCauley out for remainder of playoffs
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Posted: 11:27 ET; May 17, 1999
TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs today offically declared center Alyn McCauley out for the playoffs with post-concussion syndrome.
The news does not come as a blow to the Maple Leafs, who have been without McCauley, who turns 22 in two weeks, since March 3. He was injured that night against the New Jersey Devils and has not played since.
The diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome came later and kept him out of the lineup for the final 21 games in the regular season and all 10 playoff games thus far. Toronto and the Pittsburgh Penguins are tied after four games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
A native of Gananoque, Ontatio, McCauley registered nine goals and 15 assists in 39 games for the Maple Leafs this season. He also missed roughly a month with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He suffered the season-ending concussion just four games after returning from the knee ailment, which he sustained on December 30.
The 5-11, 185-pounder completed his second full season in the NHL and has 15 goals and 25 assists in 99 games. He was a fifth-round draft choice of the Devils in 1995 and was dealt to Toronto with Jason Smith and Steve Sullivan for Doug Gilmour and Dave Ellett on February 25, 1997.
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