Vanek Stuns the Lightning in OT
Feb 20, 2008 NHL
Yes, boys and girls, Thomas Vanek is officially ON FIRE. Vanek’s deft hands in front of the net brought the Sabres back from the brink, thanks to some great feeds from Connolly and Lydman, and TV slammed home the rebound from Spacek’s shot on the PP for the game-winner (and natural hatty). Vanek has 12 goals in his last 11 games.
(TV going all ‘Luck be a lady TONIGHT!)
Tampa Bay jumped out to an early lead thanks to a Chris Gratton goal, but the Sabres continued to pour on the shots on Johan Holmqvist from then on. They stretched the lead to 2-0 a minute into the third, but Derek Roy busted in to cut the lead back to a goal less than 2 minutes later. Prospal appeared to ice it for the Bolts but the Sabres kept fighting. A great comeback win for the Sabres, who should be feeling pretty good about themselves before facing the Leafs tomorrow night.
Gratuitous bench slam picture.
Tags: connolly, gratton, hat trick, Hockey, holmqvist, lightning, NHL, prospal, roy, sabres, Spacek, tampa bay, Thomas Vanek
Sabres Build Early Lead to Beat Lightning
Jan 30, 2008 NHL
Ryan Miller weathered an early barrage from the Tampa Bay Lightning, then MacArthur, Hecht and Pominville took over from there to lead Buffalo to the 4-2 win. Pominville made a nice pass on the break to MacArthur for his 6th goal of the year, and Clarke returned the favor later in the first to build the 2-0 lead. Halfway through the second, Lydman shot from the point, the puck ricocheted off Stafford in front for the third goal. Roy followed that with a rebound score that Holmqvist really needed to stop to make it 4-0.
Penalties gave the Lightning a shot to come back late in the second, with Brad Richards scoring on a 5-3 opportunity, and tradebait Vinny Prospal scored in the third. Still, I liked a lot of what I saw in the game, it seemed to me that the Sabres were working extremely hard, and got the bounces to go their way because of it. One scary moment when Vanek went down awkwardly after a hit, but after a bit of wincing for the camera, he came back out and looked none the worse for it.
The Sabres continue on to play the Panthers tonight at 7:30pm. They are 4 points out of a playoff spot heading into this game.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, Drew Stafford, hecht, Hockey, holmqvist, lightning, lydman, macarthur, NHL, pominville, prospal, richards, roy, Ryan Miller, sabres, tampa bay, Thomas Vanek
