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Lightning blank Sabres, 2-0

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves in his second shutout this season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning ended a two-game skid with a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Lightning blank Sabres, 2-0

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves in his second shutout this season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning ended a two-game skid with a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Defenseman Dan Girardi and rookie Mikhail Sergachev had goals for the Lightning in the third of a four-game trip. Tampa Bay is off to the best start in franchise history (17-5-2) but had lost consecutive games for the first time this season.

Vasilevskiy leads the NHL with 16 wins and has six career shutouts in 101 starts.

Robin Lehner stopped 24 shots for the Sabres, who were held scoreless for the second straight game and have lost nine of 10.

Sergachev scored his sixth goal of the year on a power play to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Tampa Bay has scored a power-play goal in nine of its last 10 games and leads the NHL in conversion rate.

Girardi got his first goal of the season midway through the second period. Girardi's slap shot from the top of the right circle deflected in off Buffalo's Marco Scandella.

NOTES: Sabres D Rasmus Ristolainen went to the locker room late in the second period after being shoved into the net by Tampa Bay's Braydon Coburn but was able to return. Ristolainen was playing in his third game after missing nine with an upper-body injury. ... Lightning F J.T. Brown missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury. ... The Sabres have not gotten a goal from a defenseman all season. ... The Lightning have beaten the Sabres in five straight meetings and are 8-0-1 in their last nine trips to Buffalo.

UP NEXT

Lightning: At Boston on Wednesday night.

Sabres: Host Pittsburgh on Friday night.

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