Two Series Made Tough by ‘Tenders

Montreal left wing Brian Savage must be an optimist.

In analyzing the Canadiens’ Eastern Conference semifinal against the Buffalo Sabres, which begins tonight at Buffalo’s Marine Midland Arena, Savage wasn’t discouraged by thoughts of goaltender Dominik Hasek’s exploits in leading the Czech Republic to the gold medal at the Nagano Olympics.

Nor was Savage daunted by Hasek’s 2.09 goals-against average and league-leading 13 shutouts and .932 save percentage.

No, Savage found encouragement in noting that Hasek had not recorded a shutout in Buffalo’s first-round series against Philadelphia.

“That proves he’s human,” Savage said.

Savage’s teammate, winger Martin Rucinsky, might disagree. He played with Hasek at Nagano and got a close-up look at Hasek’s acrobatics. “It’s all goalie,” Rucinsky said of the Sabres’ success. “It’s all Dominik. If he wasn’t there, they wouldn’t go that far. They’re an average team. They don’t have great players, but the key is they have a great goalie.

“It’s just like we were at the Olympics. They play great defense and then they know he’s going to take care of it.”

Hasek, the NHL’s most valuable player last season, hadn’t won a playoff series until the Sabres eliminated Philadelphia. He faced 35 shots a game and was good. He didn’t have to be great because the Flyers were inept and because his teammates thrived on special-team play, converting on a playoff-high nine of 31 advantages and adding two short-handed goals.

For the Canadiens, who got solid goaltending from veteran Andy Moog in their first-round upset of Pittsburgh, the key against Hasek is patience.

“We can’t overemphasize it,” winger Turner Stevenson said. “We’re going to get our chances against him. We can’t make our goal scorers better in the next few days, so we’ve got to work for our chances and hope they go in.”

Goaltending figures to be decisive in the second Western Conference semifinal, between Detroit and St. Louis, because the teams match up evenly in every aspect.

Both have speedy, two-way forwards and get major offensive contributions from their defensemen. Both are deep enough to use four lines and six defensemen, and both can do damage with their power play.

Both also have balanced scoring--St. Louis led the NHL with 256 goals, six more than the runner-up Red Wings. And whereas the Red Wing forwards are slick enough to play a puck-possession game, the Blues’ defensive corps of Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, Marc Bergevin, Steve Duchesne, Todd Gill and Chris McAlpine might be the best blend in the NHL.

“Their defense is probably the strong point of their team,” Red Wing forward Joe Kocur said. “You always go after the people that control the game and control the puck, and that’s their defense.”

The Red Wing offense is equally impressive, mixing size, speed and tenacity.

“There are no weaknesses and they’re playoff proven,” St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville said. “If you want to win, you’ve got to beat the best, and here we are.”

This will be the teams’ third consecutive playoff meeting. However, St. Louis goalie Grant Fuhr had an injured knee two years ago and didn’t play when the Blues took the Red Wings to seven games before losing in double overtime in the conference semifinals. He was solid in their first-round series last spring but lost in six games, the Red Wings’ first step on the way to the Stanley Cup. He played capably against the Kings in the Blues’ first-round sweep.

Chris Osgood was a spectator when the Red Wings won the Cup last spring, serving as cheerleader and backup to playoff MVP Mike Vernon. These are his first playoffs as the guy, and he gave up some soft goals to Phoenix. However, the Red Wings were able to control the tempo and control the series.