| ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NASCAR | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER |
|
| |
Saturday, Nov. 4 7:00pm ET
Hasek's former backup outdoes him | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
GAME UPDATE
|
BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The two top goalies from the Czech Republic had their first face-to-face meeting on Saturday and the newcomer showed the veteran a few tricks. In only his third start for Philadelphia, Roman Cechmanek recorded his first NHL shutout as the Flyers blanked Buffalo, 3-0, and snapped the Sabres' four game winning streak. In the process, Cechmanek held the upper hand against his boyhood idol, Buffalo's Dominik Hasek, the starting goaltender on the Czech Republic's 1998 Olympic gold medal-winning team. "There was nervousness before the game thinking about playing against Hasek," said Cechmanek through his interpreter, teammate Michal Sykora. "Once I stepped on the ice, I knew I had to play my game." Cechmanek was Hasek's backup in the Olympics but didn't get into any of the games as Hasek was named the outstanding goaltender. He came to the United States with the understanding that he would continue to be a backup with the Flyers. "I think I showed everybody that I'm good enough to play in the NHL," Cechmanek said. Cechmanek, the outstanding goaltender in the Czech Elite league the last six years, faced only 18 shots but made a number of brilliant saves. The best came late in the second period when he stopped Vaclav Varada from point-blank range. With less than three minutes left in the third, he made an acrobatic save on Maxim Afinogenov. "One of the reasons we wanted to start him (Cechmanek) was to give him the opportunity to challenge the master," Flyers coach Craig Ramsay said. "And he did the job." Hasek, who also played brilliantly, stopped 21 shots. "Roman played a great game tonight," Hasek said. "I didn't expect him to play. It was strange. He has a different style than me but he's a very good goalie and proved it tonight." About the Flyers, Hasek added, "They were a very desperate team and once they got the lead we couldn't come back." Philadelphia's Ruslan Fedotenko and Dan McGillis scored second-period goals and Keith Primeau added one in the third for the Flyers, who rebounded from a 3-1 loss to Nashville on Thursday with one of their best defensive efforts of the season. "No question, I thought system-wise it was our best defensive game of the year," said Primeau, who returned from a head injury. "We played a real solid, patient game and capitalized on our chances. We wanted to make sure that we pressured them. We skated hard and made them work harder than they wanted." Fedotenko put the Flyers ahead 1-0 with his first NHL goal just 39 seconds into the second period. He hammered a rebound of a shot, taken from the blue line, by Eric Desjardins past Hasek's stick side. Then at 8:19 of the period, Fedotenko jumped out of the penalty box, picked up a loose puck, and fed McGillis with a cross-ice pass in front of the left circle. McGillis lifted it over Hasek's shoulder. Primeau scored from the doorstep at 11:31 of the third period after Hasek made back-to-back saves on shots by Sykora and Jody Hull. "It wasn't our best effort," Buffalo's Doug Gilmour said. "We didn't have a lot of shots. We've got to work harder to get the puck to the net." Game notesBuffalo center Stu Barnes, the Sabres' second-leading scorer with eight points, was scratched with a strained groin. ... Philadelphia D Chris Therien returned after missing eight games with a sore back. Also back in the Flyers' lineup after being out for two games were Primeau (headaches) and Rick Tocchet (bruised ankle). ... The Flyers are unbeaten in their last seven home games against Buffalo (4-0-3). The Sabres last win at Philadelphia was March 15, 1997. ... Philadelphia is 0-for-19 on the power play in its last five games. ... Flyers C Peter White played in his 100th NHL game. ... Buffalo's 18 shots were the fewest allowed by the Flyers this season. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Buffalo Clubhouse Philadelphia Clubhouse RECAPS Los Angeles 2 New Jersey 1
Philadelphia 3 AUDIO/VIDEO   Keith Primeau finally gets the puck past a stingy Dominik Hasek.avi: 732 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||