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Roy scores twice as Sabres lift Panthers

Feb 11, 2008 - 5:24 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Derek Roy scored two goals to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday in a game which Richard Zednik was sent to Buffalo General Hospital in the third period after sustaining a deep cut on his neck.

Zednik is listed in stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery.

"The surgery was successful and he's resting comfortably in the hospital," Panthers spokesman Brian Goldman said.

With 9:56 remaining in the third period, Olli Jokinen was being checked by defenseman Brian Campbell and the captain's skate raised up and caught Zednik trailing the play.

Zednik, who bled profusely from his neck, was able to skate toward his bench where he was met by assistant athletic trainer Dave Zenobi and immediately ushered to the locker room.

"I think we all were in shock, everybody was in shock," Jokinen said. "I've never seen anything like that. It's tough to focus on hockey after that. There's (9:56) to go in the hockey game. It was terrifying. We shouldn't have finished the hockey game."

"It is super scary whenever you get contact with an ice skate," Florida coach Jacques Martin said. "It was a good decision on his part to skate towards the bench. I think that saved some time and our trainers were right there to put pressure on it."

The game was delayed for more than 15 minutes as the blood was cleaned off the ice.

Patrick Kaleta, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek also scored and Campbell had three assists for Buffalo.

"That game doesn't mean a whole lot," Campbell said. "It means a lot in the standings, but for us right now, it's pretty humbling."

The play brought back uncomfortable memories of when then-Sabres goaltender Clint Malarchuk had his jugular sliced in a 1989 game against the St. Louis Blues.

"It was very difficult," Roy said. "Things happen during the game. There's a lot of hitting (and) sometimes bad things happen. ... We're all rooting for him, hopefully he gets well."

Defenseman Branislav Mezei, Jokinen and Nathan Horton each scored a goal for Florida, which lost for only the second time in six games.

Mezei opened the scoring by blasting a shot through a screen provided by Zednik and past goaltender Ryan Miller for his second goal of the season.

Local product Kaleta answered by redirecting Adam Mair's pass through the pads of netminder Craig Anderson for his first career goal four minutes in the second period.

Pominville gave Buffalo a lead it would not relinquish by snapping a wrist shot past Anderson with just over eight minutes remaining in the second period. The goal extended Pominville's point streak to seven games.

Roy added a power-play goal two minutes later by cleaning up a rebound for his 20th goal of the season.

"With the return of Tim Connolly, it brings a lot of talent moving the puck around," Roy said. "We changed our power play a lot in the last few games. That's working out well. We've just got to keep getting pucks to the net to make plays."

After Jokinen halved the deficit with 58 seconds remaining in the second period, Horton tied the game 23 seconds into the third session after taking advantage of Campbell's turnover in his own end.

Vanek gave Buffalo a 4-3 lead nine minutes into the period, beating Anderson between the pads for his 17th goal of the season.

Roy added a power-play tally with 83 seconds remaining to the seal the win.