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Vanek tallies in overtime as Sabres edge Lightning

Oct 28, 2007 - 3:54 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Thomas Vanek handed the Tampa Bay Lightning their first home loss of the season in dramatic fashion.

Vanek scored the game-winning goal with 40 seconds left in overtime as the Buffalo Sabres posted an exciting 4-3 victory over the Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday night.

Nathan Paetsch netted one tally and set up another for the Sabres, who snapped the Lightning's franchise record-tying five-game home winning streak to start a season. Tampa Bay also won five in a row at home to start the 2002-03 campaign.

"It was huge, and these are two tough places to play (here and Florida)," Paetsch said. "I don't think our record in Florida over the past couple of years has been stellar, by any means.

"To come down here, with this team 5-0 at home, and they're a great hockey club. To be able to steal one away from them is a big accomplishment."

Vanek carried the puck down the right wing on a 2-on-1 rush and slid it under the right pad of goaltender Johan Holmqvist for the winning tally.

Tampa Bay thought it had taken a 4-3 lead with 50 seconds left in regulation, but Martin St. Louis - who was pinned in the crease - was called for goaltender interference, wiping out Vincent Lecavalier's goal.

"They said I bumped the goalie. If it's interference, I think it should be a penalty or a goal. It was neither, so I don't know," St. Louis said. "I know I touched him a bit, but it was way before the shot. I was by him by the time (Lecavalier) shot."

Lightning coach John Tortorella disagreed.

"It should be disallowed," he said. "There's no question that should be disallowed. The goalie was not able to do his job with Marty being there and, yeah, it's the right call."

As a result, the Lightning went on to experience their first setback at home.

The numbers tell the story of Tampa Bay's early success here. The Lightning had outscored their opponents by a 21-8 margin on home ice entering Saturday's contest.

After a scoreless first period, Vaclav Prospal started the scoring 3:25 into the second by firing a wrist shot over the right shoulder of netminder Ryan Miller, who made 31 saves.

Michel Ouellet gave Tampa Bay a two-goal advantage by tallying on a slap shot from just inside the blue line 80 seconds later.

The Sabres knotted the game in the high-scoring second session. Maxim Afinogenov cut the deficit in half 9:25 into the period, and Paul Gaustad tipped in a power-play goal with 5:32 left.

"We really came on in the second period (and) really the whole third period," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought we poured on as much as we could and, with three games in four nights, and the back-to-back, I thought our guys gave it everything they had and were rewarded for how hard they worked."

Lecavalier snapped the 2-2 tie during a man advantage in the third, taking St. Louis' pass from the behind the net and wristing a shot over Miller's right shoulder at 6:14. Paetsch forced overtime by scoring on a wrist shot with 6:47 left.

Holmqvist made 22 saves for Tampa Bay.

"I thought we played a good hockey game," Tortorella said. "We lost momentum at certain times and regained it. We fought to the end. They score a goal off our (defense), we had some chances in the overtime and we couldn't finish.

"I have no complaints. Both teams made mistakes. I thought it was a (heck) of a hockey game."