Sabres Classics: Buffalo wins Game 1 against Carolina

When they reconvened over a game of cards for the filming of "Beyond Blue and Gold: Scary Good," Daniel Briere and J-P Dumont couldn't recall who scored the winning goal for the Buffalo Sabres in Game 1 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Perhaps it's understandable. Looking back at the postgame quotes from May 20, 2006, you'll find that Jay McKee had surprised even himself with the deciding goal in that 3-2 victory.

"When you don't score many goals during the season or through your career, it's certainly a little more exciting when you do it in the playoffs," McKee told the Associated Press that night.

You can catch the game at 8 p.m. on MSG as the latest "Sabres Classics" installment.

While it's true that McKee wasn't known as a lamplighter during his career, he did match his career-high with five goals during the 2005-06 season. And, in the playoffs, the Sabres had a propensity for finding different heroes on a nightly basis.

McKee became the eighth individual to score a game-winning goal in Buffalo's nine playoff victories to that point, joining a list that already included Briere, Ales Kotalik (twice), Tim Connolly, Chris Drury, Jochen Hecht, Dumont, and Jason Pominville.

Briere and Henrik Tallinder also scored in the Game 1 victory, playing in front of a Carolina crowd that included its share of Sabres fans.

"Right away, we knew the atmosphere was kind of special," Briere told the media afterward. "Especially during the warmup, when they started chanting, 'Let's go Buffalo!' It's fun to see so many people driving here to support us."

As Marty Biron detailed in his look back on the series, the win did not come without a price. Teppo Numminen skated just 8:40 before leaving the game, joining Dmitri Kalinin as the second Sabres defenseman to go down with an injury.

You can read Biron's story .