The Buffalo Sabres hosted the Philadelphia Flyers in front of a sell out crowd in HSBC Arena. It was game six and Buffalo came in with a 3-2 lead in games.
Less than three minutes into the opening period, Chris Gratton scored what would be the game winning goal. After the first goal, the Sabres kept pouring it on. Philadelphia couldn’t get anything going and seemed to be out of gas.
Doug Gilmour, Donald Audette, and Dave Andreychuk all scored a goal in the first period, making it 4-0 after twenty minutes. Buffalo scored four goals on eight shots in the first period on Flyers goaltender Roman Cechmanek.
J.P. Dumont opened the scoring in the second period just three minutes in, marking the end of the night for Cechmanek. Brian Boucher came in and completed the rest of the game, but he didn’t have much success either.
Dumont, Steve Heinze, and Chris Gratton all tallied a goal against Boucher, putting the total score up to 8-0. Dominik Hasek stopped all 24 shots as the Sabres defeated the Flyers and advanced to the next round.
Through the first five games of the series, two of which were won by Buffalo in overtime, each team scored a total of 13 goals and each held only one two-goal lead.
Dominik Hasek again outplayed his former understudy on the Czech Olympic team and stopped 24 shots for his sixth career postseason shutout. He helped the Sabres avenge last year’s loss in the conference quarterfinals and eliminate the Flyers in the first round for the second time in four years.
“We worked hard the first two games in Philly to gain the home-ice advantage,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “What more could you ask then to come back and play one game in your building in front of your fans to win a series?”
The Sabres went on to face the Penguins in the next round, but lost in seven games.