Recap: Sabres Beat the Lightning in Overtime

The first period wasn’t the most entertaining 20 minutes of hockey between the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning. The two clubs didn’t create a lot of scoring chances in the first.

The Sabres best chance came on a rebound opportunity for Jason Pominville. Andrei Vasilevskiy got his left pad out to stone the struggling forward.

Former Sabre Cory Conacher got the only goal of the period late in the first. He picked up a rebound and put it by Chad Johnson. The front of the net was vacated allowing Conacher to easily slip the puck into the net.

Tampa Bay held a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard after the first period, but the Sabres held an 11-6 lead in shots on goal.

The second period opened up a bit. Scott Wilson got a shot behind Vasileskiy, but it stopped just short of crossing the goal line. Then a few seconds later Evan Rodrigues ripped a shot off the iron.

After that flurry, Brayden Point got behind the defense and had a mini-breakaway. He made a nice move on Johnson but was stopped by the far post.

Neither team was able to beat the opposing goaltender in the middle frame and the score remained 1-0 after 40 minutes.

The Sabres continued to outplay the Lightning in the third period. Vasilevskiy did a great job throughout the night keeping his team in front.

Eventually, the Sabres broke through. Evan Rodrigues tied the game with roughly eight minutes remaining in the game. He caught Vasilevskiy off his angle and scored far side on a shot from an odd angle.

At the end of the third period, Adam Erne took a run at Johan Larsson and hit him high with the check. Erne received a penalty for the hit with 19 seconds remaining in the third.

The game would head to overtime. The penalty carried into the extra frame and the Sabres would capitalize as the penalty was expiring. Pominville’s long scoring drought ended tonight. His shot from the point went through the legs of Vasilevskiy for the game-winner and an impressive win for the Sabres.

Final Score: Sabres 2, Lightning 1 (OT)

Shots on Goal: Sabres 34 | Lightning 22

Sabres Goal Scorers: Rodrigues (6) and Pominville (10)

Lightning Goal Scorers: Conacher (7)

Three Stars of the Game

1. Jason Pominvlle (1 G, 1 A GWG)

2. Andrei Vasilevskiy (32 saves on 34 shots)

3. Chad Johnson (21 saves on 22 shots)

Comment of the Game

What to do with Pominville

Talk crap about him on the DBTB front page then watch him assist the game tying goal and pot the winner in OT against the soon to be vezina winner.

I would have voted that, but it wasn’t an option even though it seemed like the obvious answer

by TCMiller30 on Feb 28, 2018 | 9:40 PM reply rec (4) flag actions