The Tampa Bay Lightning were able to overcome a sluggish start on Tuesday night, which helped them beat the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 3-0.
Led by rookie goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who recorded his first career shutout, the Bolts were able to weather as much of a storm as Buffalo could create in the early going. The Lightning came out flat, and played down to their opponent in a disappointing way. Thankfully the goaltender was there to make some early saves while his team warmed up.
The Bolts finally beat Anders Lindback at 16:37 of the first period. Assisted by Alex Killorn and Andrej Sustr, Steven Stamkos was simply able to wire the puck past the Buffalo goalie for the 1-0 lead. The puck looked like it was deflected on its way to the net, but the goal counted just the same. Stamkos’s 36th of the season ended up standing as the game-winning goal.
Buoyed by that late opening period marker, Tampa Bay had energy and used it to capitalize on two power play opportunities early in the second frame. The first goal came at 2:48; it was Ryan Callahan’s 20th of the year. After Valtteri Filppula and Tyler Johnson played catch with the puck behind the net for what seemed like an eternity, Callahan received possession and simply tipped it past Lindback for the score. With that goal, Callahan now has four 20-goal seasons in his career; this is his first since 2011-12.
Only moments after the 2-0 goal was scored, Victor Hedman scored a power play goal of his own to extend the Lightning lead to three. Helped out by Anton Stralman and Ondrej Palat, Hedman just walked off the blue line and wristed the puck past a screened Lindback. That was good enough for his eighth of the 2014-15 campaign. He now has 30 points in 45 games this season, which would put him on pace for a 50-plus point season if injuries didn't keep him out for a big chunk of the schedule.
From that point on, all Vasilevskiy had to do was shut the door. He could have taken a nap in the second period, as the Sabres generated nothing, but he had to be awake in the third. He turned away 14 Buffalo shots to preserve the shutout victory. Credit him for getting the job done.
One other note to make before signing off pertains to Braydon Coburn’s debut. The big defender struggled at times as he tried to adjust to the Lightning systems, but he was far from bad. He brought exactly what anyone could have expected from him in his first game. Further, he generated a warm reception from the fans in attendance at Amalie Arena as he threw his body around and got into a spirited fight with Marcus Foligno.
In closing, this was a win the Lightning had to have. Anything less would have been unacceptable. They got the job done, and that’s what counts. The bumps in the road to victory don’t matter. The two points in the standings do. Credit the skaters for scoring two power play goals and Vasilevskiy for shutting the door all game long. It was a solid, albeit expected win. The team’s next game comes against another struggling squad – the Toronto Maple Leafs are in town for a Thursday night matchup.
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.