June 2, 1998 -- Jason Woolley knew his teammates were happy to see him score the winning goal in Game Five of a playoff series between his Sabres and the Washington Capitals. He didn't know how happy until a postgame interview session.
"I had to give you a kiss," teammate Dixon Ward said after planting a smooch on the cheek of the defenseman.
Woolley skated 150 feet to score a goal with 4:26 left to give the Sabres a 2-1 win. The victory in Washington narrowed the Capitals' lead in the series to three games to two.
"I went face-first into the ice, but as I was going down I saw it go through his [goalie Olaf Kolzig's] legs," the defenseman said. "Then I covered my head because I knew I was going to crash into the net."
The only reason the Sabres were in a position to win the game was because of the great work of goalie Dominik Hasek. He had 34 saves in a game Buffalo had no business winning.
"Sometimes I made some saves that I didn't even know how I made the saves, but I made them," Hasek said.
--- Budd Bailey
tagged
History