2001–02 Buffalo Sabres season

2001–02 Buffalo Sabres
Division	5th Northeast
Conference	10th Eastern
2001–02 record	35–35–11
Team information
General manager	Darcy Regier
Coach	Lindy Ruff
Captain	Stu Barnes
Arena	HSBC Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Miroslav Satan (37)
Assists	Miroslav Satan (36)
Points	Miroslav Satan (73)
Penalty minutes	Rob Ray (200)
Wins	Martin Biron (31)
Goals against average	Martin Biron (2.22)

Offseason

The Sabres traded both of their stars, Mike Peca, their captain and Dominik Hasek in the offseason. Peca was sent to the Islanders for Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt.

Regular season

Final standings

Northeast Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	Boston Bruins	82	43	24	6	9	236	201	101
2	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	43	25	10	4	249	207	100
3	7	Ottawa Senators	82	39	27	9	7	243	208	94
4	8	Montreal Canadiens	82	36	31	12	3	207	209	87
5	10	Buffalo Sabres	82	35	35	11	1	213	200	82

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL=Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game log

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 4, 2001	1–2	Atlanta Thrashers (2001–02)	0–1–0–0
2	W	October 6, 2001	3–2	Ottawa Senators (2001–02)	1–1–0–0
3	L	October 7, 2001	4–5 OT	@ New York Rangers (2001–02)	1–1–0–1
4	W	October 10, 2001	2–1	Philadelphia Flyers (2001–02)	2–1–0–1
5	L	October 12, 2001	2–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (2001–02)	2–2–0–1
6	W	October 14, 2001	4–1	Pittsburgh Penguins (2001–02)	3–2–0–1
7	T	October 16, 2001	3–3 OT	Nashville Predators (2001–02)	3–2–1–1
8	L	October 19, 2001	1–3	Columbus Blue Jackets (2001–02)	3–3–1–1
9	W	October 20, 2001	3–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (2001–02)	4–3–1–1
10	W	October 23, 2001	4–1	San Jose Sharks (2001–02)	5–3–1–1
11	L	October 26, 2001	2–5	Montreal Canadiens (2001–02)	5–4–1–1
12	L	October 27, 2001	1–3	@ New Jersey Devils (2001–02)	5–5–1–1
13	L	October 30, 2001	2–3	Phoenix Coyotes (2001–02)	5–6–1–1
14	W	November 2, 2001	4–1	Tampa Bay Lightning (2001–02)	6–6–1–1
15	L	November 3, 2001	0–3	@ Ottawa Senators (2001–02)	6–7–1–1
16	W	November 8, 2001	8–0	Atlanta Thrashers (2001–02)	7–7–1–1
17	L	November 10, 2001	2–4	New York Rangers (2001–02)	7–8–1–1
18	W	November 12, 2001	5–3	@ Florida Panthers (2001–02)	8–8–1–1
19	L	November 13, 2001	1–4	@ Nashville Predators (2001–02)	8–9–1–1
20	L	November 16, 2001	0–2	Florida Panthers (2001–02)	8–10–1–1
21	L	November 17, 2001	1–3	@ Boston Bruins (2001–02)	8–11–1–1
22	L	November 19, 2001	2–3	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2001–02)	8–12–1–1
23	W	November 21, 2001	4–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (2001–02)	9–12–1–1
24	W	November 23, 2001	5–2	Calgary Flames (2001–02)	10–12–1–1
25	L	November 24, 2001	1–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2001–02)	10–13–1–1
26	T	November 27, 2001	2–2 OT	New York Rangers (2001–02)	10–13–2–1
27	W	November 28, 2001	5–2	@ Washington Capitals (2001–02)	11–13–2–1
28	W	December 1, 2001	4–2	@ New York Islanders (2001–02)	12–13–2–1
29	W	December 4, 2001	4–2	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2001–02)	13–13–2–1
30	L	December 7, 2001	1–4	Colorado Avalanche (2001–02)	13–14–2–1
31	L	December 8, 2001	2–4	@ Boston Bruins (2001–02)	13–15–2–1
32	L	December 12, 2001	3–4	@ Dallas Stars (2001–02)	13–16–2–1
33	W	December 14, 2001	3–2 OT	Carolina Hurricanes (2001–02)	14–16–2–1
34	L	December 15, 2001	2–4	@ New York Rangers (2001–02)	14–17–2–1
35	L	December 19, 2001	5–6	Chicago Blackhawks (2001–02)	14–18–2–1
36	T	December 21, 2001	3–3 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (2001–02)	14–18–3–1
37	L	December 22, 2001	2–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2001–02)	14–19–3–1
38	W	December 26, 2001	3–1	Montreal Canadiens (2001–02)	15–19–3–1
39	T	December 29, 2001	2–2 OT	@ Columbus Blue Jackets (2001–02)	15–19–4–1
40	L	December 31, 2001	4–5	Carolina Hurricanes (2001–02)	15–20–4–1
41	L	January 3, 2002	1–3	@ Calgary Flames (2001–02)	15–21–4–1
42	W	January 6, 2002	4–1	@ Minnesota Wild (2001–02)	16–21–4–1
43	W	January 8, 2002	3–2	Vancouver Canucks (2001–02)	17–21–4–1
44	L	January 10, 2002	0–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (2001–02)	17–22–4–1
45	W	January 12, 2002	2–1	New Jersey Devils (2001–02)	18–22–4–1
46	W	January 16, 2002	3–1	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2001–02)	19–22–4–1
47	L	January 17, 2002	2–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (2001–02)	19–23–4–1
48	W	January 19, 2002	3–1	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2001–02)	20–23–4–1
49	L	January 21, 2002	2–3	@ Colorado Avalanche (2001–02)	20–24–4–1
50	L	January 23, 2002	2–5	St. Louis Blues (2001–02)	20–25–4–1
51	W	January 25, 2002	4–1	Tampa Bay Lightning (2001–02)	21–25–4–1
52	W	January 27, 2002	3–2 OT	@ Washington Capitals (2001–02)	22–25–4–1
53	T	January 29, 2002	2–2 OT	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2001–02)	22–25–5–1
54	T	February 5, 2002	2–2 OT	@ Boston Bruins (2001–02)	22–25–6–1
55	W	February 8, 2002	3–2 OT	Ottawa Senators (2001–02)	23–25–6–1
56	L	February 10, 2002	1–4	@ New Jersey Devils (2001–02)	23–26–6–1
57	T	February 12, 2002	2–2 OT	New Jersey Devils (2001–02)	23–26–7–1
58	L	February 26, 2002	1–2	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2001–02)	23–27–7–1
59	W	March 1, 2002	4–3	Boston Bruins (2001–02)	24–27–7–1
60	T	March 2, 2002	3–3 OT	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2001–02)	24–27–8–1
61	L	March 4, 2002	0–3	Edmonton Oilers (2001–02)	24–28–8–1
62	W	March 7, 2002	5–0	@ New York Islanders (2001–02)	25–28–8–1
63	W	March 8, 2002	3–0	Montreal Canadiens (2001–02)	26–28–8–1
64	W	March 10, 2002	5–1	Detroit Red Wings (2001–02)	27–28–8–1
65	L	March 12, 2002	0–3	New York Islanders (2001–02)	27–29–8–1
66	W	March 14, 2002	3–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2001–02)	28–29–8–1
67	L	March 15, 2002	2–5	@ Florida Panthers (2001–02)	28–30–8–1
68	T	March 17, 2002	2–2 OT	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2001–02)	28–30–9–1
69	W	March 19, 2002	5–1	Ottawa Senators (2001–02)	29–30–9–1
70	L	March 21, 2002	1–2	Boston Bruins (2001–02)	29–31–9–1
71	L	March 23, 2002	0–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2001–02)	29–32–9–1
72	W	March 24, 2002	3–2 OT	@ Ottawa Senators (2001–02)	30–32–9–1
73	L	March 26, 2002	3–4	Washington Capitals (2001–02)	30–33–9–1
74	L	March 28, 2002	1–4	@ St. Louis Blues (2001–02)	30–34–9–1
75	W	March 30, 2002	3–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2001–02)	31–34–9–1
76	W	April 1, 2002	3–1	Philadelphia Flyers (2001–02)	32–34–9–1
77	T	April 3, 2002	1–1 OT	New York Islanders (2001–02)	32–34–10–1
78	W	April 5, 2002	3–1	Florida Panthers (2001–02)	33–34–10–1
79	W	April 7, 2002	5–3	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2001–02)	34–34–10–1
80	T	April 10, 2002	4–4 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2001–02)	34–34–11–1
81	L	April 12, 2002	1–3	Washington Capitals (2001–02)	34–35–11–1
82	W	April 13, 2002	3–0	@ Montreal Canadiens (2001–02)	35–35–11–1

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Satan, MiroslavMiroslav Satan	LW	82	37	36	73	33	14	15	5	5
Barnes, StuStu Barnes	C	68	17	31	48	26	6	5	0	4
Connolly, TimTim Connolly	C	82	10	35	45	34	4	3	0	3
Dumont, J.P.J.P. Dumont	RW	76	23	21	44	42	-10	7	0	3
Afinogenov, MaximMaxim Afinogenov	RW	81	21	19	40	69	-9	3	1	0
Gratton, ChrisChris Gratton	C	82	15	24	39	75	0	1	0	5
Brown, CurtisCurtis Brown	C/LW	82	20	17	37	32	-4	4	1	5
Zhitnik, AlexeiAlexei Zhitnik	D	82	1	33	34	80	-1	1	0	0
Woolley, JasonJason Woolley	D	59	8	20	28	34	-6	6	0	2
Varada, VaclavVaclav Varada	RW	76	7	16	23	82	-7	1	0	1
Kozlov, VyacheslavVyacheslav Kozlov	LW	38	9	13	22	16	0	3	0	1
Pyatt, TaylorTaylor Pyatt	LW	48	10	10	20	35	4	0	0	0
Rasmussen, ErikErik Rasmussen	LW/C	69	8	11	19	34	-1	0	0	2
Patrick, JamesJames Patrick	D	56	5	8	13	16	3	1	0	0
Kalinin, DmitriDmitri Kalinin	D	58	2	11	13	26	-6	0	0	0
McKee, JayJay McKee	D	81	2	11	13	43	18	0	0	1
Warrener, RhettRhett Warrener	D	65	5	5	10	113	15	0	0	1
Smehlik, RichardRichard Smehlik	D	60	3	6	9	22	-9	0	0	1
Hamel, DenisDenis Hamel	LW	61	2	6	8	28	-1	0	0	0
Campbell, BrianBrian Campbell	D	29	3	3	6	12	0	0	0	0
Boulton, EricEric Boulton	LW	35	2	3	5	129	-1	0	0	1
Ray, RobRob Ray	RW	71	2	3	5	200	-3	0	0	0
Kotalik, AlesAles Kotalik	RW	13	1	3	4	2	-1	0	0	0
Biron, MartinMartin Biron	G	72	0	1	1	8	0	0	0	0
Corkum, BobBob Corkum	C	10	0	1	1	4	-2	0	0	0
Milley, NormNorm Milley	RW	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Essensa, BobBob Essensa	G	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fitzpatrick, RoryRory Fitzpatrick	D	5	0	0	0	4	-2	0	0	0
Noronen, MikaMika Noronen	G	10	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Tallinder, HenrikHenrik Tallinder	D	2	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T/OT	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Biron, MartinMartin Biron	4085	72	31	28	10	151	2.22	4	1781	1630	.915
Noronen, MikaMika Noronen	518	10	4	3	1	23	2.66	0	217	194	.894
Essensa, BobBob Essensa	350	9	0	5	0	17	2.91	0	113	96	.850
Team:	4953	82	35	36	11	191	2.31	4	2111	1920	.910

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T/OT = Ties/Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

See also

• 2001–02 NHL season