Tampa, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres promised they’d come back from their three-week Olympic Break still in shape and ready to go. They meant what they said, as they had an immediate three-game road trip and won all three games.
The cherry on top came Saturday in Tampa Bay when the Sabres blew out the NHL’s second-best team, 6-2.
Buffalo had a 5-0 lead on the Lightning just 21:54 into the game, which is when they chased goalie Andrei Vasilevkiy, who came in with a recent record of 17-0-1. The Russian goaltender only made nine saves on 14 shots faced.
At the other end, standing tall was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made some key stops throughout the game, raising his recent record to 9-2-1.
It took just over five minutes, but Buffalo opened the scoring with two goals in 50 seconds, and three in 2:51.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin had just missed the net on a great chance from the slot, but if you give him a second chance, he usually doesn't miss. Owen Power did that, as he forced an Anthony Cirelli turnover at the Sabres' blue line and quickly found Dahlin, turning the play into transition.
Then it was center Josh Norris scoring as nifty a goal as you’ll see when he was staring at Zach Metsa going to the net, and fooled Vasilevskiy by shooting, looking away from the net and at Metsa.
Coming into the game, Norris had been slumping with one goal in 10 games. He was getting chances, but couldn't find the back of the net.
He then scored his second goal of the night by going to the net and tipping in a Bo Byram shot. Heavy board work by winger Zach Benson, who returned to action from injury and sickness, started that play off.
Norris had one of the 1% plays that head coach Lindy Ruff preaches late in the first period. It looked like Tampa Bay was going to get a Grade-A chance breaking in on Luukkonen, but Norris just put his head down and skated hard back into the zone to hinder the play enough from behind to make it an easy save for the Sabres goaltender.
Another play that goes a long way with teammates was in the second period when Dahlin was chopped hard across the ankles by Lightning center Brayden Point. Dahlin stayed down in pain, and without hesitation, rookie Noah Ostlund stepped in to take on Point.
While it maybe didn’t go well for Ostlund, if you show up like that for a teammate when it’s not your nature, the whole team notices.
Back to the first period, Tage Thompson wasn’t satisfied with a three-goal lead, and he came flying around the Tampa Bay defense and angled in alone on net to give him 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points in his last 32 games.
Thompson is now 18th in league scoring with 63 points in 60 games. His 32 goals are eighth.
Metsa didn’t get called up from the Rochester Americans to score points. Coming into the game, he had one goal and one assist in 28 NHL games.
Early in the second period, Michael Kesselring left the ice after getting hit into the back wall. Metsa took his place, and said he could see Cirelli was looking up the middle of the ice, and he went straight there from the bench. Cirelli passed it to him like they were teammates, and he calmly put one under the cross bar to end Vasilevskiy’s night.
It gave Metsa his first career two-point game in the NHL.
Buffalo would only get one goal on backup goalie Jonas Johansson on 21 shots. The Sabres fired 20 shots at the two Lightning goalies in the second period alone.
The one goal was a power play goal by Alex Tuch, which gives the Sabres a power play goal in 8-of-9 games. They have a power play percentage of 25.8% during that time, which is 10th in the league.
Overall, the Sabres are 16th in the NHL at 20%.
This is a game where the Sabres were fast and direct. They were not tired at all from three games in four nights, and they were on top of most battles. They were at the crease all night, and it made the Lightning look terrible.
Tampa Bay kept turning the puck over, going offside, and their passing was as bad as I’ve ever seen this particular group have.
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The Sabres started February with back-to-back games against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay and took 3-of-4 points. The Sabres were very upset they lost in overtime to the Lightning, because they were leading until Tampa Bay tied it with 26 seconds left.
By sweeping the two teams this weekend, they took seven out of eight points on the road from two very good teams.
Tampa Bay has two games in-hand on the Sabres, but if you go by points, Buffalo is only four points back of the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres are currently in second with 76 points, while the Montreal Canadiens have 75 and the Detroit Red Wings have 74.
If you go by points percentage, the Sabres are third at .633, while the Canadiens are second at .636.
Buffalo now has 6-of-7 games at home, starting Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights. That will be the night where fans will be able to honor Tage Thompson, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin for winning an Olympic gold medal for Team USA.
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