Sabres, Hasek Are Too Much for Bruins

BUFFALO, N.Y. — It was the same old story with a plot twist. The Buffalo Sabres combined the usual great goaltending of Dominik Hasek with an unusually potent offense to beat Boston, 3-0, on Friday night.

The Sabres launched 39 shots and Hasek made 24 saves as Buffalo moved within one victory of clinching its second-round series.

“Right from the beginning to the end we were the better team tonight,” said Hasek, who set a team record with his fifth career playoff shutout. “I don’t care about shutouts in the playoffs; it’s everything to win the game.”

Alexei Zhitnik, Vaclav Varada and Michael Peca scored as the Sabres took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference series.

Seventh-seeded Buffalo swept the No. 2 Ottawa Senators in the first round and now can finish off the Bruins in Boston on Sunday and become the first team to move to the conference finals.

Hasek made 10 saves in each of the second and third periods as he broke the team record for playoff shutouts set by Bob Sauve.

Zhitnik and Varada scored in the second period. Peca’s short-handed goal capped the scoring with 8:21 to play.

Boston’s season will end soon if history is any indication. In all 18 previous series the Bruins trailed 3-1, they never came back to win. Boston managed to win a second game after trailing 3-1 only three times and never tied any of the series.

“There’s going to have to be a massive adjustment in our game,” Bruin goaltender Byron Dafoe said. “We can’t come out the way we did tonight and expect to win. I don’t see us putting out this kind of effort at home.”

The Sabres built 3-1 leads in two previous series and won both times in the fifth game, beating Chicago in 1975 and Philadelphia in the first round last year.

Zhitnik’s goal was his third of the playoffs and offered him a measure of revenge after the Bruins suggested they might target the Sabre defenseman for his hit from behind on Bruin captain Ray Bourque in Buffalo’s win in Game 2.

“Personally I don’t pay any attention to that kind of stuff,” Zhitnik said. “I can take a hit, I can give a hit.”

Bruin center Joe Thorton was injured in the first period when he took an elbow to the head and did not return. There was no immediate word on his condition.

“We will evaluate him tomorrow and see where he’s at,” Boston Coach Pat Burns said.