The Carolina Hurricanes raised their National Hockey League championship banner here on Wednesday, but Buffalo cut short their celebrations as the Sabres edged the Stanley Cup champs 3-2 in a shoot-out as the puck dropped on the 2006-07 NHL campaign.
Daniel Briere scored the only goal of the shoot-out as Buffalo earned a measure of revenge against the team that ousted them in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals last season.
Chris Drury and Jason Pominville scored in regulation and Ryan Miller stopped 32 shots as well as all three attempts in the shootout for the Sabres.
PHOTO: AP
Erik Cole and Eric Staal scored goals and Ray Whitney added two assists for the Hurricanes. Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward made 30 saves and also had an assist in the game.
Carolina had the first chance in the shootout, but Ray Whitney missed the net. Briere followed with his backhander over Ward.
Staal took the next shot, but Miller stopped him and finally sealed the win by blocking Cole's effort.
PHOTO: AP
The game was preceded by festivities celebrating the Hurricanes' 2005-06 Stanley Cup triumph.
But the squad for the current campaign is missing some of last season's key figures, including Mark Recchi, Martin Gerber, Matt Cullen, Josef Vasicek, Aaron Ward and Doug Weight, all of whom signed with other teams in the offseason.
"We're not really thinking about guys who are not here," Cole insisted. "We've got so many guys in the room that are capable of scoring or contributing."
Energized by the raucous pre-game celebrations, the Hurricanes launched a flurry of early shots.
But the Sabres scored the first goal of the new season at 9:09 of the first when Pominville redirected Dmitri Kalinin's shot from the blue line.
The Hurricanes knotted the score after 14:42 of the first, when Staal snapped a shot over Miller's stick.
"It's always good to get the first one out of the way," Staal said. "I was bound to get one in the net if I had six shots in the period. I'll just continue to attack the net. I'll take them any way they come."
Cole put Carolina ahead 2-1 with his first regular-season goal, a power-play strike at 12:41 of the second period.
Drury made it 2-2 less than three minutes later.
Two other games were on the opening night slate.
The Ottawa Senators earned a 4-1 victory over the Maple Leafs in Toronto. Ex-Hurricane Gerber was superb in goal for the Senators, who had goals from Patrick Eaves, Chris Neil, Christoph Schubert and Daniel Alfredsson.
Mats Sundin's penalty shot after the Senators were up by three was all that got past Gerber.
In Colorado, Darryl Sydor's goal at 2:07 of overtime lifted the Dallas Stars to a 3-1 victory over the Avalanche.
Mike Modano and Loui Eriksson both scored in the third period for the Stars to force overtime, after Joe Sakic and Wojtek Wolski put the Avs ahead 2-0 in the opening period.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and