Sabres defeat Lightning, continue hot start

BUFFALO --Craig Anderson made 35 saves for the Buffalo Sabres, who continued their hot start with a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Victor Olofsson scored two goals, Robert Hagg had a goal and an assist, and Tage Thompson had two assists for the Sabres (4-1-1), who had lost their previous seven games to the Lightning dating to Nov. 13, 2018.
"That's the reigning Stanley Cup champs. That's a great hockey team over there," Anderson said. "I think our guys showed up ready to play, put the work boots on and tried to frustrate them by outworking them. Any time you win, it's satisfying. This is a tough league to play in, it's a tough league to get wins in. Kudos to our guys for putting in the work tonight."
Alex Killorn scored, and Brian Elliott made 20 saves in his season debut for the Lightning (2-3-1), who are 0-2-1 in their past three games.
"We shouldn't be frustrated. It's a 1-1 game and I felt we pretty much had the puck all night," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "But you can't feel good about yourself no matter who you are playing or how the game is. You just take a look at the second goal that was scored and how we played that. We changed the way we played. We changed our mindset. And any time you are going to turn the puck over in the NHL, you are just flirting with fire. And we did that. And obviously, that (second) goal was a killer for us."
Olofsson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 1:41 of the first period, shooting into an open net from the right circle after Elliott gave up a big rebound on Thompson's initial shot.
Tampa Bay has allowed the first goal in each of its six games this season.
Killorn tied it 1-1 at 18:26 of the first when he got his stick on Ryan McDonagh's point shot, causing the puck to trickle through Anderson's pads.
Steven Stamkos nearly gave the Lightning the lead at 18:14 of the second period. He skated in on a breakaway, but Sabres defenseman Mark Pysyk recovered on the backcheck and lifted Stamkos' stick before he could attempt a shot.
Shortly after, Drake Caggiula held off Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and scored on his own breakaway to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 19:22.

Prior to Caggiula's goal, the Lightning had outshot the Sabres 11-2 in the period.
"It's tough to go into an intermission like that, especially when things were kind of going well," Killorn said. "It wasn't good."
Vinnie Hinostroza extended the lead to 3-1 when he stole the puck from Mathieu Joseph at the Lightning blue line and scored from the slot at 4:25 of the third period.
"Yeah, I had a message for them," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "I didn't like what was transpiring and felt we needed to respond. You certainly have to respect what they have over there, but there's something to giving them too much respect, and that can't happen. Can't happen."
Hagg (14:25) and Olofsson (17:30) each shot into an empty net for the 5-1 final.
"We don't really pay attention to what people say," Hinostroza said. "We know the group we have in here. All hardworking guys, all guys that want to be better than where they're at in their career. No one's been satisfied with what they've done. I think that goes for the coaches, GM, owners, down to every player on our team. So when you have a group like that that really wants to win and work hard for each other, you can accomplish a lot."
NOTES:Tampa Bay has yet to hold a lead in regulation. … Killorn's goal was the first the Lightning have scored in the first period this season. … Lightning forward Corey Perry played in his 1,100th NHL game.