If you were to look up the word dominant in the dictionary right now, you might find the following possession chart, which depicts what went on between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres on Friday night:
2-1 game. Because, hockey. #TBvsBUF pic.twitter.com/9jQhsWoHdR
— Michael Stuart (@hockeybuzzstu) January 10, 2015While the teams played a fairly even first frame, as evidenced by that aforementioned possession chart, it was the Bolts who would jump out to an early lead. Just 3:51 into the contest, Valtteri Filppula scored his eighth goal of the season. Going hard to the net paid off for Filppula, who was able to finish off the work started by Ryan Callahan and Cedric Paquette.
That lead held up through the rest of the first period.
Buffalo tied things up at one just 50 seconds into the second period when Cody McCormick took advantage of a rare miscue from Anton Stralman and scored his first of the campaign. Rather than spark Buffalo, however, that short-handed goal put the Sabres to sleep.
Other than Neuvirth, that is.
Before the second period buzzer rang, the Buffalo goaltender made a positively phenomenal save on Brett Connolly. Connolly, who made a nice move to create the opportunity for himself, was robbed. Rather than describe what happened, I’ll let you take a look for yourself:
@wolfeshc Here is another look at @mneuvirth30 robbing Brett Connolly of a goal in the second period. https://t.co/eonxf20PNw
— Kevin Freiheit (@KevinSHC) January 10, 2015Tampa’s grasp on the contest only tightened as the evening moved along, but Neuvirth was there each and every single time the Lightning could create a chance. That was until Jonathan Drouin and Steven Stamkos teamed up to score the game-winning goal at 14:42 of the third period. Stamkos’s 22nd came on a two-on-one rush with Drouin, which is something Tampa fans hope to see for years to come.
It was just enough.
The game ended with the Lightning up 2-1, giving the Bolts their 27th victory of the year and third straight. That puts them four points up on the Montreal Canadiens for first place in the Atlantic Division, though the Canadiens do have three (!) games in hand. Tampa is off until Monday, when they’ll take on the Philadelphia Flyers in Philadelphia.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.