Tampa, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - A statement was made Saturday night.
Fueled by a four-goal first period, the Buffalo Sabres steamrolled the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-2 win at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.
The Sabres got the scoring party started early in the first period.
Just over five minutes in, it looked like the Lightning were headed in for an opportunity on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Owen Power broke up the play in the neutral zone beautifully, though, and turned the tide when he found Rasmus Dahlin with a lead pass.
The captain skated in, found himself some open space to fire a puck on net and beat Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy clean for a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, Josh Norris joined the fun.
His first goal since Jan. 10 against the Anaheim Ducks gave the Sabres an early 2-0 edge on the first place team in the Atlantic Division.
The Sabres kept pouring it on, as two minutes after his first goal of the night, Norris potted his second with a deflection of a shot from defenseman Bowen Byram.
With 4:54 left in the opening period, Tage Thompson capped the first-period scoring barrage, as the Lightning gave him far too much time and space in front of Vasilevskiy to make some magic happen.
Just 1:54 into the middle stanza, the Sabres' lead swelled to five.
Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli turned the puck over in his own end to Sabres defenseman Zach Metsa, who showed off some skill of his own to toe-drag the puck in the slot and score the second goal of his rookie season.
Metsa's goal also spelled the end of the night for Vasilevskiy, who allowed five goals on 14 shots faced. Former Sabres goalie Jonas Johansson was then called into duty for the Lightning.
The run of Sabres goals ended at five with just under four minutes remaining in the second. Lightning forward Dominic James finally solved Luukkonen with a backhander to cut into the Buffalo lead, 5-1.
In the third period, the Lightning thought they had a power play goal to make it a three-point game early. However, the goal was called back after a review for, what the officials determined was, a distinct kicking motion.
The Sabres made that hurt even more moments later, as Alex Tuch pushed the lead back up to five with a power play marker. His 24th goal of the season was the second on the man advantage in as many nights.
Around a minute-and-a-half later, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman wired his first goal of the season past Luukkonen, as Tampa Bay kept playing for pride in a lopsided affair.
With the decisive 6-2 victory on Saturday, it allowed the Sabres to pull within four points of these division-leading Lightning, and secure the second spot in the Atlantic Division all to themsevles.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 5:23 - Rasmus Dahlin (12) (Owen Power); 6:15 - Josh Norris (7) (Josh Doan, Zach Metsa); 8:18 - Josh Norris (8) (Bowen Byram, Zach Benson); 15:04 - Tage Thompson (32) (Peyton Krebs, Rasmus Dahlin)
TBL: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 1:54 - Zach Metsa (2) (Unassisted)
TBL: 16:03 - Dominic James (7) (Oliver Bjorkstrand, Victor Hedman)
Third Period:
BUF: 3:43 - Alex Tuch (24) PPG (Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Quinn)
TBL: 5:27 - Victor Hedman (1) (Darren Raddysh)
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BlueStar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
2.) Josh Norris - BUF
3.) Zach Metsa - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres return to Buffalo for their first home game in nearly a full month, where they will face the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. Puck drop at KeyBank Center is set for 7 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.