Lightning Win Third Straight With 4-3 Win Over Sabres

The Tampa Bay Lightning (4-3-2) won their third straight game, getting a 4-3 victory in Buffalo Tuesday night. 

This game could have easily gotten ugly for the Lightning, but Mathieu Garon stood on his head with 36 saves, including 16 in the game’s final stanza to help the Lightning to its third straight victory and its second straight against Buffalo.

The victory wasn’t an easy one for the Lightning, who found themselves behind two goals within 2:31 of the first period, after two quick tallies from Thomas Vanek and Brad Boyes that came within 35 seconds of each other. 

The Lightning’s defense played poorly in the neutral zone, had multiple turnovers and showcased a quite poor effort in the first period.  Buffalo dominated the forecheck but the Lightning began pressing, eventually getting a goal from Vincent Lecavalier at 13:03 of the first period after an impressive pass from Martin St. Louis. Lecavalier’s goal was his 800th career point.

Nate Thompson put one in past Ryan Miller from behind the net to tie the game at two with a minute left in the first period. Steven Stamkos scored his fourth goal of the season at 4:42 of the second period to give Tampa Bay its first lead of the game. Garon was again forced to make some solid saves, including two impressive ones on Vanek in the second period. Vanek was alone on two shots, including a breakaway that should have been called a penalty shot. The Lightning were lucky it was not called. That might not have ended well.. 

After consecutive timely saves by Garon, the Lightning extended the lead when Ryan Malone scored on a breakaway at 18:37 of the third period to put the Lightning up 4-2 but Buffalo got a goal from Nathan Gerbe, who scored with 49.2 seconds left to keep things interesting. Garon undoubtedly was the reason the Lightning won this game tonight, making highlight reel saves until the final buzzer sounded to seal a Lightning win. 

The Lightning were very lucky to get this win, especially after the horrendous showing in the first period.

Lightning Take 3-2 Lead On Sabres After Second Period

The Lightning started to back off of the aggressive forecheck in the early minutes of the second period and had a few turnovers before Steven Stamkos chipped one in after being set up by Matt Gilroy (who was originally credited with the goal). Stamkos’s goal, which gave the Lightning its first lead of the game, was sparked by Ryan Malone and Robyn Regehr dropping gloves a few minutes prior, although the two didn’t have much of a fight, and were only sent off with two minute roughing minors.

Tampa Bay is really lucky to have the lead in this game, especially after allowing Thomas Vanek to have a couple of insane scoring opportunities, including a breakaway for Vanek that probably should have resulted in a penalty shot, but instead drew a hooking call on Victor Hedman. Vanek already has three shots in the game.

Neither team allowed many shots in the second period (Tampa Bay had five and Buffalo had seven), but the Lightning have to stop allowing Vanek to become open all alone and allowing him to get any sort of scoring opportunity. This guy already has 11 goals on a young 2011-2012. This needs to be the number one focus for the Lightning going into the third period or it could get out of hand fast.

Lightning Tied 2-2 After First Period In Buffalo

The first period was a bipolar one of sorts for the Tampa Bay Lightning. In the first 10 minutes of period, the Lightning defense looked very shaky and had way too many turnovers that forced Mathieu Garon to stand on his head in net. Unfortunately, two Buffalo shots went in within 35 seconds of each other.

The first goal was scored by Thomas Vanek at 1:56 of the first period. Vanek now has 11 points on the 2011-2012 season. The second Buffalo goal was scored by Brad Boyes, who scored after a lucky bounce off of the boards.

The Sabres were absolutely dominating the forecheck for the majority of the first period but the Lightning got back into it showcasing some impressive forecheck of their own. Brett Connolly showed some forecheck pressure that set up an impressive Martin St. Louis pass to Vincent Lecavalier, who scored his 800th career point at 13:03 of the first period.

Steve Downie and Patrick Kaleta traded fighting majors, as Kaleta previously was jawing with Connolly.

Garon gave up some juicy rebounds in the final minutes of the first period, but the Sabres were unable to get any past him. Thankfully, Nate Thompson put one past Ryan Miller with only a minute left in the first period to tie the game at two.

Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres Game Preview

Mathieu Garon earned his third consecutive start as the Tampa Bay Lightning face the Buffalo Sabres in the second night of a home-and-home.