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Richards, Lightning look for sixth straight home win

Oct 27, 2007 - 2:41 PM Buffalo (4-5-0) at Tampa Bay (5-3-0) 7:30 pm EDT

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- St. Pete Times Forum has been a happy home for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season.

Brad Richards will hope to lead the Lightning to their sixth consecutive home victory when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Tampa Bay also won their first five home games of the 2002-03 campaign, but have never won six in a row to start a season. The numbers tell the story of this season's early succuss here - the Lightning have outscored their opponents by a 21-8 margin at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Richards helped the team get win No. 5 on Thursday when he scored two goals and set up another in a 5-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers. Richards has five tallies and a team-high 11 points on the season.

All five victories have come with Johan Holmquist in the crease. The Swedish netminder is 5-1-0 with a 2.52 goals-against average and .897 save percentage this season.

The Sabres will likely counter with Ryan Miller in net. The 27-year-old Miller turned aside 33 shots in a 4-2 victory over the FLorida Panthers on Friday night.

However, its the offense that is causing the concern in Buffalo. With Daniel Briere and Chris Drury gone via free agency, Thomas Vanek has struggled.

After notching a career-high 43 goals and 84 points in 2006-07, Vanek has managed just two tallies and three assists over nine games this season. Derek Roy and Jason Pominville lead the club with five goals each, while defenseman Brian Campbell and Tim Connolly each have registered 10 points.