Vanek Delivers a Trick in Big Victory
Buffalo News
September 16 2005 (Buffalo, NY) -
Sabres rookie Thomas Vanek was dominating in his first look at NHL opposition, scoring three goals and adding an assist in a 6-1 Buffalo win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
J.P. Dumont (pictured bottom right) contributed two goals of his own and Marek Zagrapan completed the scoring in the last minute of the game. Vanek, Dumont (2g 1a), Toni Lydman (3a) and Daniel Briere (3a) all had multipoint games. Jani Rita scored the only goal for the Oilers.
"It's great to get some early success but the real games don't start until October", Vanek pointed out after the game. "I'm really fortunate to be getting a chance to play with Danny (Briere) and J.P. They're both talented and experienced players and we seem to have meshed pretty well right from the start."
Martin Biron was excellent in the Buffalo net on a relatively quiet night, turning away 19 of 20 Edmonton shots. "It's nice to get the first one under my belt", he stated. "There's a lot of competition right now for the goaltending spots and I just want to prove that I belong in the mix for that number one position."
Ruff utilized the following line combinations in the victory: Briere centered Vanek and Dumont, Tim Connolly was inbetween Ales Kotalik and Maxim Afinogenov, Marek Zagrapan was in the middle of Dylan Hunter and Patrick Kaleta while Artem Kryukov centered Phillip Gogulla and Vasily Bizyaev.
On defense, Ruff employed Jay McKee and Toni Lydman, Denis Ezhov and Vyacheslav Buravchikov, Marc-Andre Gragnani and Sylvain Dufresne and lastly, Andrej Sekera with Denis Denisov.
Ruff was very pleased with the win, "especially because it was our second game in two nights." He did say that he hopes for more balanced scoring in the games ahead. "Right now, we're only getting scoring from one line per game. You'll need more people stepping up when the season starts in October, that's for sure."
The Sabres will be back in action on Saturday night, September 17th in Chicago to face the Blackhawks.
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | TOTAL |
| Edmonton | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 1 |
| Buffalo | 1 | 3 | 2 | | 6 |
|
| FIRST PERIOD |
| SCORING |
| 1. Buffalo - T. Vanek (D. Denisov, T. Lydman), 15:06 |
| 2. Edmonton - J. Rita (M. Peca, T. Harvey), 16:43 |
| PENALTIES |
| Buffalo - J. McKee (High Sticking), 5:50 |
| SECOND PERIOD |
| SCORING |
| 3. Buffalo - T. Vanek (J.P. Dumont, T. Lydman), 4:27 |
| 4. Buffalo - J.P. Dumont (D. Briere), 14:56 | | | |
| 5. Buffalo - J.P. Dumont (T. Vanek, D. Briere), 15:48 | | |
| PENALTIES |
| Buffalo - D. Briere (Charging), 2:09 |
| Edmonton - S. Roberts (Charging), 10:13 |
| Edmonton - M. Greene (Tripping), 19:28 |
| THIRD PERIOD |
| SCORING |
| 6. Buffalo - T. Vanek (D. Briere, T. Lydman), 1:23 (PP) |
| 7. Buffalo - M. Zagrapan (unassisted), 19:38 |
| PENALTIES |
| Edmonton - C. Pronger (Tripping), 10:57 | | | |
| Edmonton - C. Pronger (Charging), 17:24 | | | |
|
| GAME INFORMATION |
| SHOTS ON GOAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | TOTAL |
| Edmonton | 11 | 3 | 6 | | 20 |
| Buffalo | 8 | 13 | 12 | | 33 |
| GOALTENDING |
| Edmonton | B. Bjurling (L: 0-1-0) |
| Buffalo | M. Biron (W: 1-0-0) |
| POWERPLAYS | THREE STARS |
| Edmonton | 0 - 2 | 1. T. Vanek (BUF) 3g 1a +4 |
| Buffalo | 1 - 4 | 2. T. Lydman (BUF) 3a +1 |
| ATTENDANCE | 15261 | 3. J.P. Dumont (BUF) 2g 1a +4 |