Sabres forward Al Kotalik was in the penalty box for tripping fellow Czech and Lightning defenseman Andrej Meszaros at the 8:26 mark of the first period. The Tampa power play unit entered the ice and at 9:51 of the first period, Steven Stamkos bombed his first ever NHL goal, and it was a beauty!
Stamkos tipped Vinny Lecavalier’s point shot passed Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller.
Stamkos' friend, mentor and life coach Marty St. Louis earned the secondary assist.
Stammer would also go on to score again in the second period against Miller.
His first ever multi-goal game in the NHL.
The Bolts shocked the Sabres 5-2.
And so it began.
The Sarnia Sniper's full frontal assault on NHL goalies had officially begun.
I remember speaking with Stamkos after his two goal performance in the visitor's room in Buffalo. Stamkos was eating red hot, suicidal Buffalo Wings from Avenue Pizza while we talked. I told him that his performance was as spicy as those saucy wings/ He laughed and grabbed the bill of his white Lightning ball cap. We laughed because he left a huge red finger prints on the bill of the cap due to the excess wingage sauce that was coating his thumb and fore finger. Stamkos wore the hat around the room with pride. He wore it while posing for pics with his two goal pucks, too. He told me that the hat, pucks and the score sheet were are going in his trophy case at home.
What a cool moment that was.
Stamkos finished the night with 2 goals and an assist.
Stamkos was and still is too hot to handle.
On Saturday Febraury 20, 2016, the 26 year old Stamkos became the second youngest NHLer to achieve the illustrious 300 goal plateau by scoring the milestone goal on the 13th day of his 26th year.
Stamkos scored his 300th career goal on Pens backup Jeff Zatkoff on a nice back door tap in in the first period.
Stamkos joins his role models Lecavalier (383) and St. Louis (365) in the Tampa Bay Lightning 300+ goal club.
Alex Ovechkin's scored his 300th goal on the day that he was 25 years and 200 days old.
During the first period intermission, Stamkos said that he has been privileged to have played alongside legends like St. Louis, Lecavalier, and Gary Roberts as well as high achievers like Ryan Malone, Victor Hedman, Teddy Purcell, Ryan Callahan, Nikita Kucherov, and others.
People who know Stamkos know that he is very close to Marty St. Louis.
The two men stay in constant contact even now that St. Louis is in retirement. I've heard that Stamkos never was and still isn't a big fan of how Bolts GM Steve Yzerman traded away St. Louis to the NY Rangers. Years of acrimony between Stevie Y and St. Louis reached the point of irreconcilable difference and the two approved of their "divorce" from one another. As with all divorces, the kids are the ones left to suffer and struggle with it. I'm told that Stamkos is still mostly ambivalent about the manner in which the Bolts cut ties with St. Louis. That trade had a profound affect on Stamkos, who now finds himself in the eye of the hurricane of controversy in Tampa. If Yzerman and the bolts were interested in keeping Stamkos for the next 10 years at $10 million per season, they would have re-signed him last summer. On July 1, 2016 his no movement clasue kicked in and now he is focusing on just hockey. He wants no part of cobtract talks with the Bolts. They had their chance to sign him, they didn't and now he is headed to unrestricted free agency where Yzerman will risk losing him with zero, zero compensation. More to come on that front later.
For now, more stick taps for the Sarnia Sniper and two time Rocket Richard Trophy winner!
I thought that I would snark it up a bit by tweeting the Lightning Twitter account. Stamkos' first 300 NHL goals are in the books. It's time for him to move on to Buffalo via unrestricted free agency to score his next 300+ NHL goals.
Imagine scoring 300 more with Eichel, ROR, Reinhart, Kane, Ristolainen https://t.co/Rb5CitehUC
Geno Malkin hasn't played for the Penguins since suffering a lower-body injury in practice on February 2.
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters Saturday that Malkin wouldn't rejoin the team for at least two more games.
Malkin will miss the games against Tampa and Buffalo.
"We have not made the decision yet for him to join the team in practice, and that's obviously the next step for him," Sullivan told the team website.
"He skated the last few days and it went well, so the next step is for him to join the team," Sullivan said on Thursday.
"He's close."
Geno's loss is Phil Kessel's gain.
Sullivan said Thursday the Penguins are a better team when Phil Kessel scores goals. Makes sense, right? $8 million players who are paid to score goals make their teams better when they actually score goals.
Hash tag logic.
Kessel scored twice for the fourth time this season to power Pittsburgh (29-19-8) past the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Thursday night.
Kessel had grown accustomed to playing on a trio with center Matt Cullen and left wing Carl Hagelin.
Kessel replaced Patric Hornqvist on Pittsburgh’s top unit adjacent to Sidney Crosby and left wing Chris Kunitz. Kessel has scored three goals in his past three games.
“I’ve said it a number of times, he shoots the puck differently than most guys,” Sullivan said. “The way the puck comes off his stick. He has a really good release. He’s very accurate with how he shoots and where he wants to put it. Obviously, he has some zip. There’s some velocity on it that most guys don’t have the ability to do.”
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The Sabres have gone 53-for-58 (91.4%) on the penalty kill in their last 20 games, including a 14-for-14 run in the team’s last three games. It is the team’s best 20-game penalty kill percentage since the team went 65-for-71 (91.5%) from December 29, 2009 to Februar 9, 2010.
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Man vill ju ha med Robin Lehner till World Cup så att han kan sitta i båset och stirra ut motståndarna. pic.twitter.com/vwpFDX10wv
If you mess with Robin Lehner or his teammates, he will kick your ass.
Not figuratively. Literally.
Lehner is "likes to fight guy".
He literally loves to fight. Not only does he love it, he is very skilled at it! I've been talking about Lehner and his truculence in this space since the first time I watched him play live in person at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships that were hosted by Buffalo-Niagara. I marveled at his soft feet, tenacity, aggression and his fists and slashes of fury. I've been wanting Lehner in Sabres gear for year and I finally succeeded in convincing Tim Murray to trade the 21st overall pick in the EichDavid Draft for the Angry Swede.
So, Jack Johnson and his Columbus Blue Jackets teammates learned Friday night that it's best for one's one health and well being to not rattle the cage of the Swedish gate keeper.
Trailing 4-0, midway through the third period, looking to get something going, Columbus forward Boone Jenner buried into the end boards Buffalo D Zach Bogosian.
What happened next is exactly the response that Dan Bylsma and Tim Murray wanted to see.
Thanks, Sportsnet
The greasy hit occurred just behind Lehner's cage.
Like a first responder at the scene of a serious vehicle accident, Lehner immediately arrived on the scene and started triaging the situation. Lehner heard the thunderous thud of Jenner smashing Bogosian to the ice and activated for duty. Sensing that rookie Jack Eichel and the diminutive Brian Gionta would need reinforcements against the aggressive Jenner, Lehner wasted little time and did what great teammates do in a time of crisis and that is grab the first guy you can find and start feeding him right jabs. Wisely, the ref jumped in and saved Johnson from a serious ass kicking. Jenner was given a major for hooking for his act of idiocy on Bogosian. I'm advocating for the NHL to add a one game suspension onto Jenner.
After the game, Dan Bylsma quipped that he never had a goalie of his pitch a shoutout and earn 4 PIMs in the same game. Better get used to it, Danno.
I'm positive that the Sabres would have finished their checks with extreme prejudice on Jenner had he stayed on the ice for the final eight minutes of the game. Just like they did on Scott Hartnell how buried Cody Franson into the boards with 3:05 remaining in the second period. Franson was injured on the punk play.
Jamie McGinn scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season. McGinn got the Buffalo power play back on track with his PPG. Entering Friday night, the Sabres PP had gone 2 for it's previous 23 attempts. Let me clear my throat. Ahem! Jamie McGinn is NOT going to be traded at the NHL trade deadline on February 29. NOT.
Samson Reinhart potted his team leading 18th goal of the season. Reinhart has quietly stolen the team goal scoring lead away from his mentor and "coach" Ryan O'Reilly. Reinhart has been on fire and it's so impressive to watch him develop on a nightly basis.
David Legwand scored a shorthanded goal from 150 feet away from the Columbus net.
Then there was Jack Eichel's two great assists on McGinn's goals. Eichel has Joe Thornton's playmaking ability. He slows the game down and makes it look so easy. Eichel now has 25 goals (8G,17A) in his last 25 games since the Christmas break with 11 points on the PP.
With 55 points in the NHL standings, the Sabres have now surpassed their 54 point output from the season of "The Tank" in 2014-2014. There are still 23 games (46 available points) remaining in the regular season for the Sabres.
Last season's franchise worst squad managed only 23 wins the entire season (15 ROW).
The Sabres now have 24 wins this season (23 ROW).
It was that kind of night!
Lehner made 38 saves for his third NHL shutout, and first with the Buffalo Sabres, who extended their point streak to four games with a 4-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets .
"We outchanced them, but we weren't scoring on him tonight, no doubt about it," Columbus coach John Tortorella said.
Lehner was outstanding in the first three minutes of the third period when he stoppedBrandon Dubinsky skating through and a one-timer in the slot by Kerby Rychel.
"We came out a little flat-footed," he said. "We had the lead, so they've got to do something. They had some jump. They were taking chances."
While Lehner was in the process of speed bagging Jack Johnson, the linesman wisely moved in and extricated Johnson from the one-side battle. Were it not for the quick work of the zebras, Lehner would have really done some serious harm to Johnson.
After the game, Lehner told media that the Jenner back stabbing of Bogosian was "disgusting". I happen to agree with Lehner. The Blue Jax played on an crossed over the edge of safe hockey and clean hits on Friday night.
Thanks, Sabres TV
Lehner is not an NHL newbie. He knows the drill. The Blue Jax are a big, fast team that like to fore check with pressure and persistence. They literally like to ram the opposing D's face to the glass whenever the opportunity presents itself. That's fine, if you want to play that way you have to pay that way too. The Buffalo forwards reciprocated with heavy fore check pressure of their own on the Columbus D corps throughout the game. In other words, Lehner and his boys were not amused, nor intimidated by Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno, the Columbus Blue Jax and their greasy tactics.
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A win over PIT (66 pts) on Sunday would put BUF (55 pts) only 9 points behind Pens and Bolts for a wild card berth with 23 games to play
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