Ferrablog

After a shocking two-game skid against Carolina and the Islanders, the Lightning get back into the win column with a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. More important than the victory itself, however, was the effort put forth by the Lightning tonight. After a sluggish first ten minutes or so that featured some defensive zone giveaways, the Bolts buckled down and played their best game in weeks. They forechecked relentlessly, played physically on defense, and hustled for every loose puck. Cory Sarich, in particular, was a beast tonight, making defensive stops and doling out some huge hits, while Nikolai Khabibulin gave the Lightning their best performance in the nets in quite awhile as well. And the winning goal was a thing of beauty: Dave Andreychuk won the offensive zone face-off, bulled past his opposing centerman, and then slid a pass to Tim Taylor, who buried his shot in a wide-open net. If they play with this type of effort every night, they'll go far in the playoffs.

Plus, there was good news on the scoreboard as well, as Philly fell to Toronto, and Boston is on the verge of losing at home to Minnesota, of all teams.