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Drury's awesome first period leads Sabres over Capitals

Dec 27, 2006 - 4:56 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Chris Drury attacked from all angles to send goaltender Brent Johnson to an early shower.

Drury had two goals and two assists and Ales Kotalik added a tally and set up two others in a six-goal first period to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-3 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Buffalo needed just nine shots to score six times in the first 11 minutes of the contest to win for just the second time in its last five encounters.

The Sabres lead the Eastern Conference in wins (26), points (55) and are 11-4-2 at home.

"It was important for us to play well, come out well," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "Our guys did a great job of being ready. A lot of times, you don't know where you're going to be at after a couple days, especially around the holidays. I thought we moved the puck really well early."

"The Sabres always put a lot of pressure on our defense and we had to support them in other ways," Washington coach Glen Hanlon said. "We just ended up spending too much time in our zone in the first period and it was downhill from there."

After defenseman Brian Campbell opened the scoring for Buffalo at the 1:51 mark, Drury netted his first tally since December 5 with a shot from the right faceoff circle that bounced past Johnson.

"Obviously, it was a fluky goal," Drury said. "I was at the end of a shift, just throwing it on net, got a lucky bounce, but sometimes you get bounces like that. We've had a few go against us. We'll take it."

Drury completed his third multi-goal contest of the campaign at 7:15 with his 19th tally, a one-timer from the doorstep off Kotalik's centering feed. Just 15 seconds later, he assisted on Kotalik's 10th goal, which prompted Washington to replace Johnson with Olaf Kolzig.

"It certainly wasn't (Johnson's) fault," Hanlon said. "He had the one unfortunate goal and the other ones were tap-ins and slap shots from the top of the circle. Brent Johnson did not lose the hockey game for us. He (has) played lots of good hockey."

Maxim Afinogenov scored his 17th goal on a power play at 9:50 and Thomas Vanek added his 19th only 67 seconds later.

Buffalo netminder Ryan Miller made 23 saves to raise his record to 18-5-2.

"We didn't go into the break the way we wanted," Miller said. "It's good to get the win back at home. We're going to be here for a few more games. We need to take advantage of the good start."

Alex Ovechkin, who was ejected from the last meeting against Buffalo after checking Daniel Briere into the boards from behind on December 2, scored his 25th goal late in the second period for Washington.

"It was pretty funny when I touched the puck and everybody was screaming something," Ovechkin said. "I like when fans scream (my name). I get emotion."