diff --git a/lib/faye/eventsource.js b/lib/faye/eventsource.js
index 6e9c7ce..eea7b22 100644
--- a/lib/faye/eventsource.js
+++ b/lib/faye/eventsource.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ var EventSource = function(request, response, options) {
   
   this._request  = request;
   this._response = response;
+  this._stream   = response.socket;
   this._ping     = options.ping  || this.DEFAULT_PING;
   this._retry    = options.retry || this.DEFAULT_RETRY;
   
@@ -30,11 +31,11 @@ var EventSource = function(request, response, options) {
   
   var self = this;
   this._pingLoop = setInterval(function() {
-    try { this._response.socket.write(':\r\n\r\n') } catch (e) {}
+    try { this._stream.write(':\r\n\r\n') } catch (e) {}
   }, this._ping * 1000);
   
   ['close', 'end', 'error'].forEach(function(event) {
-    self._response.socket.addListener(event, function() { self.close() });
+    self._stream.addListener(event, function() { self.close() });
   });
   
   var handshake = 'HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n' +
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ var EventSource = function(request, response, options) {
                   'retry: ' + Math.floor(this._retry * 1000) + '\r\n\r\n';
   
   try {
-    response.socket.write(handshake, 'utf8');
+    this._stream.write(handshake, 'utf8');
   } catch (e) {}
 };
 
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ var instance = {
     frame += 'data: ' + message + '\r\n\r\n';
     
     try {
-      this._response.socket.write(frame, 'utf8');
+      this._stream.write(frame, 'utf8');
     } catch (e) {}
   },