On a Gold Medal Night, Pomminville and Vasilevskiy Shine

TRAVIS FAILEY PHOTO

Tampa, Fla. —  It was a great treat for hockey fans as the Tampa Bay Lightning welcomed the US Women’s hockey team who won a gold medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Things got off to a slow start  for the Bolts until they scored late in the first period with a tip in by Cory Conacher that give the Lightning 1-0 lead. J.T. Miller arrived tonight, and Miller showed why Steve Yzerman made a trade at the deadline when he decided to throw his body around a little bit nearly getting into a fight. The fans love that brand of hockey around here and if this is a sign of things to come then Ryan McDonagh wasn’t the only good player from Monday’s trade.

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The second period picked up with a number of scoring opportunities for Tampa Bay with Adam Erne nearly lighting the lamp and Brayden Point having a break away.  Buffalo’s goalie Chad Johnson had other ideas as each time Erne and Point were turned away. Not to be outdone Andrei Vasilevskiy continued to show fans why he could win the Venzia  Trophy with some amazing saves. Tampa needed everyone because Buffalo was out-shooting Tampa 20-12 after the second period. You have to wonder if the Bolts were a little tired from Monday night’s shoot-out win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Finally the Sabres scored early in the third period with Evan Rodriguez doing the honors after a sloppy turnover by Andrej Sustr. Then with 19 seconds to play, a controversial penalty on Adam Erne gave the Sabres  a golden opportunity in overtime with a four on three advantage. Buffalo took advantage with the winning goal scored by  Jason Pomminville and the Sabres won 2-1.  Even the game-winning goal had some controversy to it as it looked like Ryan Hart made contact with Vasilevsky,  but it was ruled that the contact was early enough not to cause interference with the save opportunity. Don’t tell Vasilevskiy that,  he thought it was goalie interference so much so he received a ten minute misconduct.

Tampa Bay can’t dwell on this loss they have a back to back with the Dallas Stars tomorrow night  on the road at The American Airlines Center.

TRAVIS FAILEY PHOTO

TRAVIS FAILEY PHOTO

TRAVIS FAILEY PHOTO

THREE STARS

J. Pominville (Sabres – RW): Goals: 1, Assists: 1

C. Johnson (Sabres – G): Saves: 21, Save Pct.: .955

A. Vasilevskiy (Lightning – G): Saves: 32, Save Pct.: .941

1st Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	BUF	TB
18:03		Cory Conacher (7) Assists: Dan Girardi, Yanni Gourde	0	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
14:42		Cory Conacher: 2 Minutes for Hooking
2nd Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	BUF	TB
No scoring this period			0	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
No penalties this period
3rd Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	BUF	TB
11:47		Evan Rodrigues (6) Assist: Jason Pominville	1	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
4:57		Yanni Gourde: 2 Minutes for Hooking
8:06		Justin Falk: 2 Minutes for Slashing
14:53		J.T. Miller: 2 Minutes for Tripping
19:40		Adam Erne: 2 Minutes for Illegal check to the head
OT Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	BUF	TB
1:26		Jason Pominville (10) (Power Play) Assists: Rasmus Ristolainen, Ryan O’Reilly	2	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
1:26		Andrei Vasilevskiy: 10 Minute Misconduct

Player Summary

Sabres Buffalo Time On Ice Faceoffs Player G A +/- SOG MS BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHF TOT PP SH EV FW FL % V. Antipin D 0 0 -1 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 24 19:44 1:26 0:36 17:42 0 0 00.0 N. Baptiste RW 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 21 12:32 0:41 0:00 11:51 0 0 00.0 N. Beaulieu D 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 1 0 2 18 13:34 0:00 0:00 13:34 0 0 00.0 J. Falk D 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 20 12:09 0:00 0:00 12:09 0 0 00.0 Z. Girgensons C 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 26 20:54 0:28 1:24 19:02 1 2 33.3 S. Griffith C 0 0 -1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 15 10:12 1:29 0:00 8:43 0 1 00.0 J. Josefson C 0 0 -1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 14 10:04 0:00 0:36 9:28 1 2 33.3 J. Larsson LW 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 22 12:52 0:00 1:24 11:28 9 4 69.2 C. Nelson D 0 0 -1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 23 18:42 0:00 0:36 18:06 0 0 00.0 J. Nolan C 0 0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 12 8:45 0:00 0:00 8:45 0 0 00.0 R. O’Reilly C 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 26 24:57 6:36 0:00 18:21 9 13 40.9 J. Pominville RW 1 1 1 7 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 26 18:19 6:06 0:00 12:13 0 0 00.0 B. Pouliot LW 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 21 12:58 1:49 0:36 10:33 0 0 00.0 S. Reinhart C 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 25 24:08 6:20 0:00 17:48 0 0 00.0 R. Ristolainen D 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 30 28:28 6:15 1:24 20:49 0 0 00.0 E. Rodrigues RW 1 0 1 5 5 1 0 0 0 1 0 21 15:36 2:51 0:00 12:45 5 3 62.5 M. Scandella D 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 32 25:37 2:36 1:24 21:37 0 0 00.0 S. Wilson C 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 20 14:16 0:47 0:00 13:29 0 0 00.0 Buffalo Scratches Player Detail J. Gorges Scratched K. Okposo Personal Reasons Lightning Tampa Bay Time On Ice Faceoffs Player G A +/- SOG MS BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHF TOT PP SH EV FW FL % M. Bournival LW 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 13 9:20 0:00 0:00 9:20 0 0 00.0 R. Callahan RW 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 19 14:14 0:35 4:08 9:31 0 2 00.0 B. Coburn D 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 20 15:47 0:00 2:13 13:34 0 0 00.0 C. Conacher LW 1 0 1 3 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 13 9:01 0:00 0:00 9:01 0 1 00.0 A. Erne LW 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 22 16:35 0:00 0:00 16:35 0 0 00.0 D. Girardi D 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 23 20:17 0:00 1:57 18:20 0 0 00.0 Y. Gourde LW 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 2 1 2 0 18 12:41 0:35 0:00 12:06 1 2 33.3 V. Hedman D 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 3 1 1 29 29:31 1:25 5:33 22:33 0 0 00.0 T. Johnson C 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 22 18:40 1:25 0:00 17:15 6 5 54.5 A. Killorn C 0 0 -1 2 1 0 0 0 3 1 1 23 18:36 0:35 1:58 16:03 0 0 00.0 C. Kunitz LW 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 17 11:52 1:25 0:45 9:42 0 0 00.0 J. Miller C 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 4 2 0 24 17:40 0:35 0:11 16:54 5 3 62.5 C. Paquette C 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 4 0 0 15 11:49 0:00 2:58 8:51 7 3 70.0 B. Point C 0 0 -1 1 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 24 19:31 1:25 2:53 15:13 2 5 28.6 M. Sergachev D 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 20 16:07 0:35 0:00 15:32 0 0 00.0 S. Stamkos C 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 22 17:38 1:25 1:13 15:00 4 4 50.0 A. Stralman D 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 3 1 1 27 25:31 0:00 5:49 19:42 0 0 00.0 A. Sustr D 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 17 13:08 0:00 0:00 13:08 0 0 00.0 Tampa Bay Scratches Player Detail J. Dotchin Scratched S. Koekkoek Scratched R. Mcdonagh Upper Body N. Kucherov Upper Body

Goaltending Summary

Sabres Buffalo Goaltending Player SA GA Saves SV% TOI PIM C. Johnson 22 1 21 .955 61:23 0	Lightning Tampa Bay Goaltending Player SA GA Saves SV% TOI PIM A. Vasilevskiy 34 2 32 .941 61:26 10