WASHINGTON (AP) -- That wasn't a Dominik Hasek snow-angel, butterfly, highlight-reel shutout. Chalk this one up to the Buffalo Sabres' defense that choked the attack of the rattled Washington Capitals.
Hasek only had to make 19 unspectacular saves to get his first playoff shutout in four years and third of his career. The defensemen in front of him blanked Washington on five power plays and didn't allow a decent scoring chance over the last two periods in Saturday night's 2-0 victory in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals.
"The thing with this team, we've got guys -- myself, Dixon Ward, Curtis Brown -- we enjoy going out there to kill penalties," said center Michael Peca, whose teammates haven't allowed a power-play goal in three games. "We don't look at it as something like, 'Man, we've got to dig ourselves out of a hole.' We go out there and have fun with it. I think that's why we've had some success."
Both goals came in first two minutes of the second period, with Michal Grosek and Miroslav Satan taking advantage of defensive lapses to help Buffalo win its eighth straight game in its best playoff run since 1980. The goals shook the veteran Capitals and energized the young Sabres, who had made some defensive adjustments in the locker room after being outplayed in the first period.
"That first period there were a few jitters on our part," Ward said. "We were chasing the puck a little bit. We settled down after that."
The Adam Oates line had created several scoring chances on the Capitals' power play in the first period, but Peca and Ward changed their forechecking assignments and shut down the passing lanes in the neutral zone. The result: Washington, which had a chance to make a dent in the lead, managed only two shots on three consecutive man-advantage situations in 11 minutes in the second period.
"We controlled the first period, made two defensive blunders in the second period and that was it," Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "We've got to get shots on goal and put the puck in the net on the power play. We turned the puck over in the neutral zone in the second and third period on the power play every time we had the puck."
The scoring in what had been billed as Round 1 of the goalie showdown of year, Hasek vs. Olaf Kolzig, came down to two simple plays. In essense, Grosek and Satan assisted on their own goals.
On Buffalo's first offensive push after the first intermission, Grosek chipped and charged unchecked from the blue line. The puck caromed off the boards behind the net and right back to Grosek, whose casual-looking wrist shot from the right circle found the space between Kolzig's pads 31 seconds into the period.
"I was surprised it went in," Grosek said.
The goal was Grosek's sixth of the playoffs, only four fewer than he had in the entire regular season. It was also the first goal scored on Kolzig since Game 3 of the Ottawa series, ending his shutout streak at 168 minutes, 42 seconds.
Satan scored 1:24 later by reversing his momentum to retrieve his own rebound. Kolzig stopped the first shot from Satan, who had skated in unfettered from the left side, but the Capitals' goaltender and defensemen Brendan Witt were sprawled together on the ice and couldn't find the puck. Satan hit the breaks, did a 360-degree turn to return to the crease and poked in his sixth goal of the playoffs.
"The first one, I would like that back," Kolzig said. "But the second one, that happens."
In the third period, the Capitals managed only five shots on goal. They have been outshot 11 games in a row, and haven't more than eight shots in a period in 14 periods.
In the first period, it was a different story. Hasek watched the puck sail by his crease a few hair-raising times, but the Capitals' players in close weren't able to convert. Sergei Gonchar muffed a perfect pass from Oates midway through the period, and Joe Juneau put his point-blank shot right into Hasek's chest on a power play.
But it was downhill from there against the Sabres' defense.
"Second period, third period, my teammates played great defense," Hasek said. "That probably was the easiest game by us this year for sure."
