Without scoring depth, playoff hopes are shallow.

Steve Heinze's four goals in his first four games with Buffalo show that out of the 57 or so ways a player can help get his team ready for the playoffs, one ranks above all.

And that's to provide scoring depth--because one-line teams usually don't advance far in the playoffs.

The Sabres, who already knew how to play well with a lead and in one-goal games and had the best defensive record in the Eastern Conference, added 55 goals at the deadline--32 from Donald Audette and 23 from Heinze. And they did it without disturbing their roster, acquiring Audette from Atlanta for a fourth-round draft choice and 22-year-old prospect Kamil Piros and getting Heinze from Columbus for a third-rounder.

After the trading deadline, Buffalo went from an average of 2.59 goals per game to four goals per game and outscored the high-powered Penguins. That's right, Heinze, J.P. Dumont, Chris Gratton and Doug Gilmour have outscored Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka.

"Based on what I saw, the Sabres are back as a Stanley Cup contender," Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph says.

"We like expectations," says Lindy Ruff, who took his team to the conference finals and Stanley Cup finals in his first two seasons as Buffalo coach. "Right now, we're not giving up many chances, and that means we're in every game.

"There are a lot of teams that would like to be in our position, with Dominik Hasek in goal, a solid team in front of him and now having Audette and Heinze up front."