Drew Stafford helps Buffalo Sabres beat Tampa Bay Lightning 7-4
Drew Stafford completed the fifth hat-trick of his career as the Buffalo Sabres netted six straight goals in a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Thomas Vanek scored twice and had an assist while Jordan Leopold tallied a goal and assisted twice for Buffalo, who have won four of their previous five contests. Ryan Miller started between the pipes, turning away 30 shots
for the victors. Tim Connolly added another goal in the win.
Vincent Lecavalier potted two goals and earned an assist, while Sean Bergenheim notched two goals for Tampa Bay, who have lost two of their last three play-offs. Dwayne Roloson had a terrible
night, as he finished the game allowing all seven goals on 28 shots.
Bergenheim and Stafford exchanged goals in the opening session. Bergenheim gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead just six and a half minutes into the first quarter, while Stafford tied the game at 1-1 for Buffalo with nearly three and a
half minutes left in the period. Lecavalier put the Lightning ahead again at 2-1 just five minutes into the middle period, as he took a pass from Victor Hedman and knocked it home for his 10th goal of the 2010-11 season.
Bergenheim’s second goal of the game gave Tampa Bay a two-goal edge at 3-1, with eight and a half minutes left in the middle period. It started when Ryan Malone stole the puck in the Buffalo zone and fired a shot to the net.
Miller blocked it but the rebound trickled out in front, where Bergenheim buried it home. Trailing by two goals in the second, Vanek cut the deficit to 3-2 with his 20th goal of the season with nearly two minutes to play
in the frame.
The Sabres dominated the play after Leopold pulled Buffalo even at 3-3 on a disputed goal just four and a half minutes into the final stanza. During the play, Stafford lost his balance rushing near the crease and tripped Roloson
to the ice with his pad. The officials ruled that Stafford was pushed into the goalie by Lightning’s Marc-Andre Bergeron.
Stafford said after the game, “I didn’t see the goal. I think we got a lot of momentum after that, though … the turning point of the game. It was a big one. We’ll take it.”
Connolly then gave his team their first lead of the game just after the midway mark of the third period. The goal was set up by Tyler Ennis, who controlled a bad clearing pass from behind the Lightning net and slipped it to
the right side for Connolly, who blasted a backhand past Roloson to make it a 4-3 game.
Just 47 seconds later, Buffalo extended their lead to 5-3 as Cody McCormick chipped a backhand pass from behind the net to the front, where Vanek banged a wrist shot into the net. Less than a minute after that goal, Stafford
drifted down the right wing to the circle. Using a defender as a screen, he ripped a wrist shot off the pipe and into the net to give Buffalo a 6-3 edge.
Stafford completed his hat-trick on the power play one and a half minutes later, as he hammered a clean wrist shot from the top of the left circle to make it a 7-3 game. Lecavalier pulled
another goal back for Tampa Bay to round off the scoring at 7-4, on a power play with three and a half minutes left in the game, as he rifled a one-timer into the net from close-range.
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