The leaders bounce back after a horrible game versus the Devils. New comer, Jere Lehtinen, makes his presence felt on the scoreboard, as he kick starts the power play. With Prospal in the box for head butting, which somehow did not net a game misconduct, Lehtinen set up Martin Stlouis to open the scoring. On the same powerplay 15 seconds later, Lehtinen set up rarely used Steve Montador for his first of the season. Before the period was over, Lehtinen would set up Jiri Fischer for a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Unfortunately, for the Habs, Daniel Alfredsson was injured on a freak play which saw Sabres Defenseman Kalinin get a game misconduct for hooking. Alfredsson would leave the game after only 5minutes of ice time.
The remainder of the game, saw ex-Sabre Brian Rolston dominate. After tallying an assist in the first period, Rolston scored unassisted half way through the second period. Stealing the puck off a Sabre Dman, Rolston broke in on Goalie Curtis Sanford and beat him with a wrist shot low to the stick side. The Sabres looked to have found some momentum to carry them into the 3rd period when they scored with less than a minute to go in the second. However, Rolston kicked off a play which saw Martin St.louis go in on a 2-1 with Sergei Fedorov. The vets made no mistake in the dying seconds when Stlouis faked a shot and slid the puck to Fedorov. The Sabres argued the clock had expired, however, the replay clearly showed the puck crossed the line with two-hundredths of a second remaining.
Ruslan Fedotenko, began the third period by pulling the Sabres back within 3 goals. However, once again, the Rolston, Federov, St.Louis combination stopped any momentum, when Federov converted another easy set-up and pu tthe Habs up 6-2. Fedotenko would add a goal late in the third period but the Habs would go on to win 6-3. Despite the win Vokoun was shakey, allowing 3 goals on 16 shots.
The Habs have a night off to rest before meeting up with their biggest rival, the Carolina Hurricanes. GM Beerfund was the first GM of the Hurricanes in the inagural season of the CPHL. A personal situation forced Beerfund to step aside part way through the second year, the reins were handed to Hanna Sniper. Several weeks later, Beerfund was lured back to the CPHL to help rescue a sinking franchise in Montreal. Historical ties, intra-division competition and mutual respect has driven this rivalry since the second season of the CPHL.
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