2001–02 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2001-02 Buffalo Sabres season was the 32nd for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.[1] The Sabres finished in 5th place in the Northeast Division and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in 6 seasons. On October 7, 2001 the Sabres played the New York Rangers in the first pro sports game played in Manhattan after the September 11 attacks. In the game both teams wore special one time jerseys with "New York" written diagonally on the front of the jersey. The jerseys were later auctioned off to raise money for the 9/11 victims fund. The Sabres lost the game 5-4 in overtime.[2]

2001–02 Buffalo Sabres
Division	5th Northeast
Conference	10th Eastern
2001–02 record	35–35–11–1
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 former captain and Dominik Hasek in the offseason. Peca was sent to the Islanders for Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt. Forward Stu Barnes, was named team captain.

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
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Eastern Conference[3]

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Z- Boston Bruins	NE	82	43	24	6	9	236	201	101
2	Y- Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	42	27	10	3	234	192	97
3	Y- Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	35	26	16	5	217	217	91
4	X- Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	43	25	10	4	249	207	100
5	X- New York Islanders	AT	82	42	28	8	4	239	220	96
6	X- New Jersey Devils	AT	82	41	28	9	4	205	187	95
7	X- Ottawa Senators	NE	82	39	27	9	7	243	208	94
8	X- Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	36	31	12	3	207	209	87
8.5
9	Washington Capitals	SE	82	36	33	11	2	228	240	85
10	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	35	35	11	1	213	200	82
11	New York Rangers	AT	82	36	38	4	4	227	258	80
12	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	28	41	8	5	198	249	69
13	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	27	40	11	4	178	219	69
14	Florida Panthers	SE	82	22	44	10	6	180	250	60
15	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	19	47	11	5	187	288	54

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

Z – Clinched Conference; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Schedule and results

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	OTL	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

Playoffs

The Buffalo Sabres finished in 5th place in the Northeast Division and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 1995–96 season.

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Miroslav Satan	LW	82	37	36	73	33	14	15	5	5
Stu Barnes	C	68	17	31	48	26	6	5	0	4
Tim Connolly	C	82	10	35	45	34	4	3	0	3
Jean-Pierre Dumont	RW	76	23	21	44	42	-10	7	0	3
Maxim Afinogenov	RW	81	21	19	40	69	-9	3	1	0
Chris Gratton	C	82	15	24	39	75	0	1	0	5
Curtis Brown	C/LW	82	20	17	37	32	-4	4	1	5
Alexei Zhitnik	D	82	1	33	34	80	-1	1	0	0
Jason Woolley	D	59	8	20	28	34	-6	6	0	2
Vaclav Varada	RW	76	7	16	23	82	-7	1	0	1
Vyacheslav Kozlov	LW	38	9	13	22	16	0	3	0	1
Taylor Pyatt	LW	48	10	10	20	35	4	0	0	0
Erik Rasmussen	LW/C	69	8	11	19	34	-1	0	0	2
James Patrick	D	56	5	8	13	16	3	1	0	0
Dmitri Kalinin	D	58	2	11	13	26	-6	0	0	0
Jay McKee	D	81	2	11	13	43	18	0	0	1
Rhett Warrener	D	65	5	5	10	113	15	0	0	1
Richard Smehlik	D	60	3	6	9	22	-9	0	0	1
Denis Hamel	LW	61	2	6	8	28	-1	0	0	0
Brian Campbell	D	29	3	3	6	12	0	0	0	0
Eric Boulton	LW	35	2	3	5	129	-1	0	0	1
Rob Ray	RW	71	2	3	5	200	-3	0	0	0
Ales Kotalik	RW	13	1	3	4	2	-1	0	0	0
Martin Biron	G	72	0	1	1	8	0	0	0	0
Bob Corkum	C	10	0	1	1	4	-2	0	0	0
Norm Milley	RW	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Bob Essensa	G	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rory Fitzpatrick	D	5	0	0	0	4	-2	0	0	0
Mika Noronen	G	10	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Henrik 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%
Martin Biron	4085	72	31	28	10	151	2.22	4	1781	1630	.915
Mika Noronen	518	10	4	3	1	23	2.66	0	217	194	.894
Bob 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

[4]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

Draft picks

Buffalo's draft picks at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft held at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	22	Jiri Novotny	Czech Republic	HC České Budějovice (Czech Republic)
2	32	Derek Roy	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
2	50	Chris Thorburn	Canada	North Bay Centennials (OHL)
2	55	Jason Pominville	United States	Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL)
5	155	Michal Vondrka	Czech Republic	HC České Budějovice (Czech Republic)
8	234	Carl Aslund	Sweden	Huddinge IK (Sweden)
8	247	Marek Dubec	Slovakia	Vsetín HC (Czech Republic)
9	279	Ryan Jorde	Canada	Tri-City Americans (WHL)

Farm teams

See also

• 2001–02 NHL season

References

1. National Hockey League (2010). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2011. Triumph Books. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-60078-422-4.
2. http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabres-nhl/article552579.ece | 9/11/01: Sabres' visit to Ground Zero was overwhelming
3. "2001–2002 Standings by Conference". National Hockey League. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
4. "2001-02 Buffalo Sabres Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-06-12.