Jhonas Enroth continues his impressive play since taking over as the Sabres’ top goaltender. On Thursday night in Tampa Bay, Enroth shut down the Lightning making 43 saves in a 3-1 win.
Enroth has been lights out in his last four starts, going 3-1 and stopping 144 of 154 shots faced. Enroth has a .935 save-percentage along with a 2.50 goals-against-average.
Tyler Myers was a work horse on the ice tonight for the Sabres. Myers got Buffalo on the board in the first period with a shot the beat Lightning goaltender Anders Lindback top shelf. Myers added an assist on Marcus Foligno’s goal in the second period, which turned out to be the game-winning goal. Myers was also a plus-2 on the night with three shots while registering 20:58 of total ice-time.
Cody Hodgson put the game away in the third period after Foligno made a great diving pass to spring Hodgson on a short breakaway. Hodgson had the other assist on Foligno’s goal, and also had six shots in nearly 18-minutes of total ice time.
Lightning forward Tyler Johnson added a late shorthanded goal to cut the deficit to two goals, but the Sabres held off the Lightning to solidify the win.
In his debut with the Sabres, Torrey Mitchell had one hit and two blocked shots in 13:24 of total ice-time. Mitchell was on the fourth line with John Scott and Matt Ellis, but got some penalty kill time later on in the game.
Buffalo did get banged up in the matchup with the Lightning. Zemgus Girgensons played only one shift in the second period before leaving the game with a lower-body injury. Chris Stewart left the game halfway through the third period after rolling his knee in a collision with Lindback on a breakaway. Both player’s status are unknown at this time.
Now for Buffalo, they will head off to Florida on Friday night to play the Panthers. Roberto Luongo is expected to make his return to the Panthers, and will start his first game for the Panthers since 2006. For Buffalo, Cory Conacher is expected to make his debut with the Sabres after being acquired on Wednesday off waivers from Ottawa.
Friday’s opening face-off is scheduled for 7:30pm. The game can be viewed on MSG Network and heard on WGR 550 AM.