It was a hostile environment to say the least. Contempt, derision and mocking calls

repeatedly descended upon Patrick Lalime and the Buffalo Sabres. The crowd in HSBC Arena was

furious and disappointed in its team almost from the outset, and it had no desire to hold the

feelings in.

"I felt like I was on the road a little bit," Lalime said.

The goaltender and his teammates brought most of the scorn upon themselves.

Lalime allowed two goals in the opening 10:11, and the Sabres' inappropriately named "power

play" struggled again during a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. The visitors built a 3-0 lead

before the Sabres' attempt to extend their three-game winning streak ended in vain.

"When you give up the first two [in the first period], it makes it extremely tough on you,"

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "The energy is sucked right out of your building, and that's

what happened. We didn't do anything to get it back."

The Sabres left town after the game and play in Detroit tonight. It's the start of a

five-game road trip, and they won't be back in the arena until March 24. Maybe by then all the

boos they received will have stopped ringing in their ears.

The fans turned against Lalime early. It descended into an all-out assault by the time

Minnesota took its 2-0 lead.

The Wild opened the scoring with 3:02 elapsed on a low, slow shot. Andrew Ebbett backed

defenseman Toni Lydman into the Sabres' zone on a power play and shot from the left circle.

Lalime extended his left pad after the puck was by him and on its way into the net.

Some in attendance didn't like the ease of the goal. It was impossible to find anyone who

didn't fault Lalime for the second.

The goaltender corralled a dump-in behind his net and tried passing to Steve Montador.

Instead, the puck went to the Guillaume Latendresse, and the Wild's leading scorer beat Lalime

to the front for a 2-0 lead.

"It was a bad mistake," Lalime said. "I just made a mistake on that one."

The sellout crowd of 18,690 was not in a forgiving mood. The fans booed Lalime following

the goal, then gave rousing mock cheers whenever he stopped the puck. One dump-in would have

been clocked at about 1 mph, and it drew a hearty ovation upon stopping at Lalime's stick.

"It was disappointing," left wing Thomas Vanek said of the reaction. "He's a guy who works

hard if not the hardest every day here. He's a good guy to have.

"Obviously, if you talk to him you would like the first couple back, but I think I'm

disappointed and embarrassed for us. We didn't show up again for him, and it [stinks]. Having

him out there work hard every day, and we didn't respond for him."

Lalime rebounded with a solid second period. The Wild, though, took advantage of another

Buffalo mistake before the period ended. Raffi Torres attempted a cross-ice pass near the

Sabres' blue line, but Antti Miettinen intercepted to start a two-on-one. Andrew Brunette

knocked it home with 1:25 to go.

The struggling Buffalo power play didn't help until it was too late. The Wild killed the

Sabres' first four opportunities, running Buffalo's slump to 1 for 37 in the past 13 games.

Vanek finally struck with the man advantage with 3:42 gone in the third. The power play had

a chance for two in a row just two minutes later. The Sabres had their share of chances, but

they also repeatedly coughed the puck up to give the Wild opportunities.

"We talk about it every night, so I don't think we have to talk about it anymore," said

Vanek, whose unit finished 1 for 6 and is 2 for its last 39. "We've just got to go out there

and execute."

Vanek scored again with Lalime pulled with 1:58 to go. The Sabres couldn't solve Josh

Harding again. The goaltender stopped 43 of 45 shots.

"Shots aren't good enough," Ruff said. "We had opportunities that should have turned into

goals. I don't buy it that with two goals we should be happy with shots and chances. Shots and

chances aren't going to win games."