By Michael Wax
Somehow, someway, the Tampa Bay Lightning won 6-5 against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night:
Here are three things we saw from the win:
Blazing
These two teams got off to a blazing fast start.
The Lightning got on the board in the first five minutes of the game, with Nick Paul getting a fortunate deflection of a Buffalo Sabres defender on a two-on-one to beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Just 16 seconds later, the Sabres would tie it with a goal of the rush from Rasmus Dahlin.
Thirty-four seconds after that goal, Darren Raddysh sent a shot from the blue line towards UPL, and the Lightning got another fortunate bounce to go back up by one.
Then, three minutes after that, the Sabres would tie it again off another goal on the rush after Emil Lidberg fell down in the offensive zone.
This was fire drill hockey at its finest, with five goals in the opening frame overall, and things would not subside throughout the game. The term “burn the tape” is often used after ugly games, specifically after big losses. Even in the wind, the lightning might wanna burn the tape of this game, as it isn’t sustainable for the type of performances they want to have in the future.
Cat Nipped
Simply put, this was Andrei Vasilevskiy’s worst game of the season.
Allowing six goals on fewer than 40 shots is poor against any team, but it feels worse against the Buffalo Sabres, the team with the lowest points percentage in the entire NHL. All odd-man rushes and breakaways seemed to result in goals, reminiscent of a very similar game against the same Sabres a few years ago.
The defense in front of him was lacking, with numerous breakaways and odd-man rushes against a team that has struggled to score. However, Vasilevskiy's poor performance after such a prolonged period of excellence stands out as one of the more shocking moments of the year. Ultimately, he stepped up to secure the win for the Lightning.
Newo-lingo
In the middle of the day on Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Yanni Gourde and Oliver Björkstrand from the Seattle Kraken. A little more than 24 hours later, Björkstrand made his Lightning debut, and Gourde returned to the Lightning lineup for the first time since 2021. The duo that spent a lot of time together in Seattle was paired with Gage Goncalves in their first Lightning game of 2025, and it was evident early why Julien BriseBois so coveted these two.
The numbers didn’t look pretty early for these two, as they exited the first period with multiple goals against and a -2 rating. However, fans could see early that the expectation for excellent forechecking and physicality was certainly on display from both of them. Their hard work paid off as the game progressed, with the two sharing the ice with Nikita Kucherov in the third period. Kucherov sent the puck on goal, and Gourde got a stick on it before Björkstrand finished off the play for his 17th goal of the season and his first goal as a member of the Lightning.
These two will hopefully be a big part of the future, serving as pivotal pieces for the Lightning as they pursue a Stanley Cup in 2025. Tonight was just the first piece of the puzzle.
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