Coming into tonight’s game between Buffalo and Tampa Bay (7:30 p.m. ET on Versus) you might’ve thought you’d hear a lot about Steve Stamkos and Martin St. Louis lighting up the world offensively. Not so fast... It’s the Sabres that come into this game with the nice start (5-2-0) and a superstar of their own lighting up the world.
Thomas Vanek is tops on the Sabres in goals with six and is hanging around in the NHL top-ten in points as well. He’s one of the best paid guys in Buffalo, but he’s showing that it’s not going to waste by getting back to his scoresheet-filling ways. Vanek along with Jason Pominville and rookie Luke Adam have been making it look easy for Buffalo offensively speaking.
One person the Sabres will have to d without is Tyler Ennis. Ennis’ injury is forcing Lindy Ruff to juggle his lines around a bit. We’ll see how the new look lines play tonight.
Oddly enough for Tampa Bay, the guy that comes into tonight’s game as their top scorer isn’t any one of Stamkos, St. Louis, or even Vincent Lecavalier. Instead it’s Marc-Andre Bergeron leading the charge there. Oh by the way, the Lightning have stumbled out of the gate. That’s not exactly a coincidence.
Not helping matters there has been the poor play of Dwayne Roloson in goal. Mathieu Garon has gotten the call the last couple games and Tampa has won their last two. Either way, having Garon or Roloson face off with Ryan Miller comes off as a really lopsided match-up.
Do the Sabres keep rolling along or has Tampa figured things out and stay hot? After seeing Tampa shutout the Sabres on Saturday night, Buffalo will be looking for payback at home tonight.