Big first period sees Buffalo narrow the gap with Tampa to four points
Boxscore
Score: Buffalo Sabres 6-2 Tampa Bay Lightning
Shots: BUF 35-38 TBL
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Dahlin 12 (Power), Norris 7 (Doan, Metsa), Norris 8 (Byram, Benson), Thompson 32 (Krebs, Dahlin), Metsa 2 (Unassisted), Tuch 24 PPG (Dahlin, Quinn)
Tampa Bay Lightning Goals: James 7 (Bjorkstrand, Hedman), Hedman 1 (Raddysh)
Quick Thoughts
Score Early, Score Often
The Buffalo Sabres started the game like they wanted to show Tampa that they were not afraid of them. They punched the division leaders in the mouth, danced around them and then hit them with a couple more haymakers.
It’s not often that Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy gets embarrassed, but Saturday night he was left wishing he had gone to Ybor City instead of showing up at Benchmark International Arena where the Sabres scored four times in the first period and five times on fourteen shots before coach Jon Cooper put him out of his misery and yanked him from the game.
Captain Rasmus Dahlin got on the board five minutes in, and then Josh Norris had two in two minutes after that. Tage Thompson was one of the United States’ best players at the Olympics and he continued to haunt Canada coach Cooper by scoring again tonight to make it 4-0 with five minutes still to play in the first period.
When In Doubt, Shoot First
Buffalo were getting outshot 14-10 after the first period, and instead of buckling down with a four-goal lead and letting the Lightning dominate, they took the fight to Tampa and outshot them instead 20-12 in the second period, adding another goal via Zach Metsa to make it 5-0 before Dominic James finally breached Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s goal before the end of the period. The best defence is offense, and the Sabres took that approach.
In terms of scoring chances for and against, the Sabres went 14-13, 17-13 and 2-7 in this game, which is excellent game management against one of the better sides in the league.
Metsa Steps Up
The young defenseman scored his second goal of the season and picked up his second assist too in his first NHL multi-point game, all in a shade over thirteen minutes of ice time where he showed that he is ready to take on some more responsibility with Lindy Ruff continuing to ride his top four dmen.
Metsa still went 7-13 in on-ice shots for and against so there’s some room for improvement still though, but hopefully tonight gives him some confidence.
Big Dawgs
For many years Tampa has played the role of the big bully. They are certainly skilled, but have also mastered the dark arts and use those nefarious skills to have their opponents beat themselves.
Buffalo tonight was having none of it, fighting back at every opportunity and giving back as good as they got. With this performance the Sabres showed that not only are they here to stay this season, they are also willing to play Tampa at their own game and beat them too.
This attitude is permeating throughout the locker room, watch Noah Ostlund go after Brayden Point after the Lightning center did Rasmus Dahlin dirty. Ostlund is lucky Point decided not to ragdoll him, but kudos to the kid for standing up for his captain.
At The Horn
The Sabres end the road trip three for three, having beaten the Devils, Panthers and now the Lightning. If they can keep playing like this then who knows what their ceiling can be this season.
Right now they are getting excellent goaltending and can score seemingly at will even when getting badly outshot. They didn’t let being on the second night of a road back-to-back against the division leaders be an excuse and instead soundly beat Tampa.
With the trade deadline this week, it’s unlikely GM Jarmo Kekäläinen is going to move out any of the key pieces in the team given how well the squad is gelling. Messing with the team chemistry seems dangerous, but that doesn’t mean Buffalo aren’t going to be buyers either. Adding a depth defenseman and a veteran middle six forward makes a lot of sense.
The fancystats supported the eye test last night, with Kesselring having another rough game, and Samuelsson with the rare off night. Dahlin continues to be otherworldly.
Benson was limited in his effectiveness on the fourth line. Quinn continues to be mercurial, while both Joshes were also very good.