*Photo from Observer Today*
This game was a seesaw, back and forth, up and down. Tage Thompson had a hat trick, Ilya Lyubushkin scored the winning goal, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-5 overtime victory on Thursday night in Tampa Bay.
Thompson's hat trick marked his league leading 4th of the season to help the Sabres win their 3rd game in their last 4 and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. That's moved them to two points back of a wild card spot in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff field.
Buffalo head coach Don Granato said of the road win that "We had to work for it. We had to stay very dialed in and focused, and it was good to rise above that challenge. Comrie was really good. He didn't feel the pressure and stayed with it."
Tampa Bay struck first in this one with an early goal. Steven Stamkos lit the lamp for the Lightning 2:19 into the game, making it 1-0 with assists from Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. Zemgus Girgensons then tied the game with his 7th goal of the season, making it 1-1 with assists from Tyson Jost and Rasmus Dahlin.
Starting the scoring in the second period was Thompson, who made it 2-1 Sabres with a power play goal. Thompson scored again to make it 3-1 on his second goal of the night. 16 seconds later, Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning to cut it to 3-2. Jack Quinn then added his 10th goal of the season to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead after two periods.
Point started the Lightning scoring in the 3rd period, making it 4-3 on his 34th goal of the season. Thompson then capped off the hat trick 6:18 into the 3rd to make the score 5-3. The Lightning then rallied to tie the game with goals from Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton. Lyubushkin then scored with the Sabres shorthanded 1:41 into overtime, his first goal of the season.
Lyubushkin said of his winning goal after the game that "It feels nice for my team, that’s more important than me, we’re trying to push for the playoffs right now. It’s important for us game by game. If you want to make the playoffs, everyone is important. The goalie made a lot of saves. Everyone made a difference."
Getting the start in goal for the Sabres was Eric Comrie, who picked up the win in the road showdown. Comrie stopped 36 of the 41 shots he was faced with by the Lightning, good for a .878 save percentage. His record improves to 7-8-0 with the win.
It was Andrei Vasilevskiy in net for the Lightning opposite Comrie, who saw his 6 game winning streak against the Sabres snapped. Vasilevskiy made 17 saves on 23 Sabres shots, recording a .739 save percentage. His record dropped to 27-14-2 with the overtime loss.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of the loss that "There were a lot of mistakes tonight, and they all wound up in the back of the net. I'm not disappointed with the effort. It's the mentality. I give the guys credit for coming back. It takes effort to come back like that."
The Sabres play the second half of a back to back on Friday against the Florida Panthers, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to get the start. Vasilevskiy is the projected starter for the Lightning against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
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