Harry Neale

Second hat trick ends defense for excessive sweating

Vanek got his second hat trick of the year and the Sabres, who were down by two late in the game, came back to win 4-3 against Tampa Bay tonight. Vanek’s hat trick was a natural; he got all three goals in a row to end the game, even picking up the gamewinner in overtime.

The man with 12 goals in the last 11 games also factored into Roy’s goal, which opened the Sabres’ scoring. Harry Neale said, “I could hear Vanek quacking like a decoy over there,” to explain how Roy’s glance at Vanek froze Tampa Bay’s goalie just long enough.

Connolly also played a big part. He was in on both of Vanek’s last two goals, tipping one and passing the other. This, while he’s managing pain to stay in the lineup for the remainder of the season.

Winning 4-3 can really help Campbell, who has gone -6 or something crazy in the last few games. Some awesome defense has been on display for those losses, even though all sorts of speculation swirls around the market price of the top Sabres’ defenseman leading up to the trading deadline.

In other news, during intermission Mike Robitaille admitted, “I always wanted to play high school hockey, the problem is I never made it to high school. … I got kicked out for not shaving.”

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