Raleigh, N.C. – When he took a turn raising the Stanley Cup with his Avalanche teammates five years ago, Chris Drury had a late-night shadow of a beard. Just stubble. He was 24, and accumulating bushy playoff whiskers would have been a bigger challenge than getting a goal past a stingy goaltender.
Saturday, after Buffalo opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center, the Sabres center smiled when his impressive but well-trimmed playoff beard was brought up.
“I didn’t do it in 2001,” Drury said. “This is the first time for me. I didn’t really try this time. I shaved after we went up 2-0 on Philly (in the first round), and we lost the next two. I figured I might as well join everyone else.”
He paused, then added, “Now it’s staying.”
Drury, who alternates wearing the Sabres’ captain’s “C” with center Daniel Briere, could be seven victories from another championship.
The spunky and speedy Sabres, the conference’s No. 4 seed, broke through on the road in the series opener as goalie Ryan Miller, a rookie from Michigan State, had 29 saves and defenseman Jay McKee got what turned out to be the winning goal at 13:40 of the third on a nifty move after coming out of the penalty box.
For two minutes with the Sabres leading 2-1, McKee sat in the box, hoping his holding penalty wouldn’t be costly.
It turned to be an opportunity, as the 28-year-old McKee emerged from the box, took a pass from Jochen Hecht, cut left and beat Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward from the inside edge of the right-wing circle. It was only McKee’s third career playoff goal.
“I actually picked up the puck and went down the side, and I was thinking about passing the whole time because two guys were going to the net,” McKee said. “I was looking at them. I saw a little bit of an opening, thought I’d try something, and it worked out.”
Carolina got within one with a short-handed goal with 2:53 left in the third, when Mike Commodore’s shot from the blue line caromed in the air and then into the net as Miller turned and took an unsuccessful swipe at it.
But the Sabres held on. Drury blocked a shot by Justin Williams and slid the puck out of the Buffalo zone and watched the final seconds count off the clock.
Buffalo not only improved its road record to 5-2 in this postseason, but made it through the crisis that followed defenseman Teppo Numminen’s exit from the game after the first period with what coach Lindy Ruff labeled a mid- to lower-body injury.
Another defenseman, Henrik Tallinder, scored the Sabres’ first goal. For a team that had only one defenseman in double figures in goals in the regular season – Brian Campbell had 12 – it was a bit of an anomaly.
“We had two defensemen score goals,” Ruff said. “We had to kill off (McKee’s) penalty where we had only four defensemen. So that group of five guys did a great job.”
Briere had the other goal for the Sabres, beating Ward with a lifted backhander.
“It was top shelf where mama hides the cookies,” Ruff said.
Drury, who had six goals in 11 postseason games entering the series, didn’t make the scoresheet in Game 1. But he wasn’t complaining.
“To get out of the first one with a win on the road, we’re pretty happy,” Drury said. “Anytime you win a game in the playoffs, you have to take whatever momentum comes from it and bottle it up and try to put it into the next game.”
Buffalo 1 1 1 – 3
Carolina 1 0 1 – 2
First period – 1, Buffalo, Tallinder 2 (Hecht, Pominville), 2:56.2, Carolina, Brind’Amour 7 (Stillman), 12:11. Penalties – Tallinder, Buf (interference), 5:37; Hecht, Buf (elbowing), 15:40; Stillman, Car (hooking), 19:38.
Second period – 3, Buffalo, Briere 5 (Pominville, Pyatt), 9:41. Penalties – Lydman, Buf (interference), 13:02; Williams, Car (high-sticking), 16:15.
Third period – 4, Buffalo, McKee 2 (Hecht, Fitzpatrick), 13:40. 5, Carolina, Commodore 1 (Hedican), 17:07 (sh). Penalties – Lydman, Buf (holding), :29; Williams, Car (roughing), :29; McKee, Buf (holding), 11:32; A.Ward, Car (holding), 15:50.
Shots on goal – Buffalo 6-13-8 – 27. Carolina 10-4-17 – 31. Power-play opportunities – Buffalo 0 of 3; Carolina 0 of 4. Goalies – Buffalo, Miller 9-3 (31 shots-29 saves). Carolina, C.Ward 8-3 (27-24). Attendance – 18,730 (18,730). T – 2:24.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
