NHL Game Summary - Buffalo at Tampa Bay
Tampa, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for his first career shutout as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 on Tuesday.
Vasilevskiy got the start after Ben Bishop suffered an injury in practice earlier in the day. Bishop was hit in the midsection with a puck about 10 minutes into practice and stayed down for a few moments before leaving the ice to see a trainer.
Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan and Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning. Defenseman Braydon Coburn played his first game in a Tampa Bay uniform after being acquired from Philadelphia in the early hours of Monday.
"I'm really happy the way Vasilevskiy played," Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. "It was nice to be up by three (goals) heading into the third."
Anders Lindback stopped 32-of-35 shots in his first appearance for Buffalo since being acquired last month from Dallas.
"They're one of the best teams in the league," said Buffalo head coach Ted Nolan. "Overall I liked the effort."
The Sabres, the worst team in the NHL with only 43 points, held a fire sale at Monday's trade deadline. Buffalo shipped away forwards Chris Stewart, Torrey Mitchell and Brian Flynn and also dealt goaltender Michal Neuvirth.
Buffalo received mostly prospects and draft picks in return, but got goaltender Chad Johnson in the Neuvirth deal.
Stamkos gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 16:37 of the first period when he beat Lindback from the right circle.
Tampa Bay scored a pair of power play goals in the middle stanza. Callahan scored on a two-man advantage at 2:48 when took a pass from Tyler Johnson in front of the goal and fired a shot past Lindback.
Hedman lit the lamp at 4:24 with a snap shot from the right circle that got past Lindback.