Stamkos leads Bolts past Sabres

Hockey Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Stamkos lit the lamp and added an assist while Mathieu Garon stopped 26 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1.

Steve Downie also scored for Tampa Bay, which had lost three of its last four games coming in.

Jason Pominville supplied the lone goal for the Sabres, who had their three- game winning streak snapped. Ryan Miller made 26 saves in the loss.

Trailing 2-0 entering the third period, Pominville finally got the Sabres on the board with a wrister at the 7:07 mark.

Buffalo had its chances to tie the game down the stretch.

The Sabres received their only power play at an opportune time with 4:33 left in the contest after J.T. Wyman was called for tripping. But Garon stood tall in net to keep the Lightning up by a goal.

Christian Ehrhoff stung the goal post with 58 seconds remaining following a wrister from the right point and Garon made one final save on Paul Gaustad's slap shot with 3.2 seconds remaining.

After attempting just 13 shots through the first two periods, the Sabres put 14 shots on net in the final stanza.

"After the second we talked about just getting more pucks towards the net and making plays in the offensive zone," Sabres center Derek Roy said of the third period.

Tampa Bay netted both of its goals in the second period, with the first coming at the 7:31 mark. Victor Hedman flicked a wrister on net from the point and Downie put home the rebound.

After a turnover at center ice, Stamkos finished a 2-on-1 rush with a one- timer from the high slot off a nice feed from Teddy Purcell with less than seven minutes remaining in the second.

Game Notes

Stamkos' goal is his 37th of the season...Tampa Bay improved to 14-2-6 in one- goal games...The Sabres will play the Devils on Tuesday in the final game of their four-game homestand, while the Lightning travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins on Sunday.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.