Gaustad sparks Sabres' comeback
Vanek scores twice in victory over Lightning
It looked and felt a lot like the last home game nine days ago against Nashville. A 2-0 deficit. A dead team. A deader crowd.
Then the Buffalo Sabres found some of the passion they discovered on their road trip to forge their second straight nifty comeback.
Sure, two more goals from Thomas Vanek were the key element of Wednesday night's 4-2 victory over the woeful Tampa Bay Lightning in HSBC Arena. But things really turned around in Buffalo's third straight win when the Sabres got physical.
Buffalo was in a two-goal hole late in the first period when Paul Gaustad decided to do something about it.
First, the Buffalo center crunched Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan Craig against the boards in the Lightning zone. Craig got up and challenged Gaustad. Bad idea. Gaustad pummeled him, the crowd let out one of its "Goooose" chants and everyone was suddenly alive.
The Sabres went on a power play as Craig was nailed for an extra roughing penalty and Drew Stafford converted, tipping Jaroslav Spacek's pass home with 37.8 seconds left in the period.
Adam Mair then got the best of Zenon Konopka in an early second-period battle. That sent a further buzz through the team and the crowd of 18,431 … which included former President Bill Clinton, a guest in the suite of Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano.
"I'm trying to play more physical myself and the team is playing with a little bit more of an attitude out there too," Gaustad said. "It helps and everybody bought in tonight."
"It was definitely big for us," Vanek said of the physical play. "Both Paul and Adam did a great job getting the fans into it. That's huge when you're down a couple goals. You want the fans to pump you up."
Gaustad has not been able to fight because of the right thumb injury he suffered in preseason, but he's starting to feel more like himself now.
"It's probably not the best thing for my hand," he said, looking at his wrapped appendage. "It's still pretty sore but it's my job and sometime you have to go through pain."
"I'm glad to see him back swinging," goalie Ryan Miller said. "He's been waiting for the right moment with his thumb. .‚.‚. He's a big animal. I wouldn't want to tussle with him."
The Sabres beat the Lightning in Tampa, 4-3, on Saturday night and knew the visitors would be desperate to snap their 0-6-2 skid. Buffalo finished with a 37-28 edge in shots, scored two power-play goals, killed off four more penalties and got some key saves from Miller over the final 40 minutes, including some thievery against Vincent Lecavalier with 9:02 left and the Sabres nursing a 3-2 lead.
"I thought our grit guys did a good job," coach Lindy Ruff said. "It's a little of their role, their responsibility and they sensed a need for a little bit of energy. And I think that comes from within. That isn't me barking."
Vanek single-handedly put Buffalo ahead with his NHL-leading 21st and 22nd goals of the season.
The first came at 11:52 of the second as he came off the bench, took a perfect breakaway pass from Ales Kotalik and beat Mike Smith on the stick side. The other came with 14.4 seconds left in the period on a neat backhand to the top corner from in close.
It came on a power play after great work at the point from Jason Pominville, who poked the puck to Derek Roy. He relayed it to an open Vanek.
"It's a move I've been working on in practice and it paid off," Vanek said. "It's tough, especially when you're in tight against a big goalie. But I think the defense and goalie both cheated toward [Stafford]. .‚.‚. It opened up the top corner for me."
The Sabres' final penalty kill was a big one, coming when Kotalik got a dubious boarding penalty with 55 seconds left that allowed the Lightning to pull Smith for a six-on-four. Pominville ended Tampa's hopes by finding the empty net on the backhand with 13 seconds left.
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