Tampa Bay Lightning weekly report

The Lightning showed how hard they can strike with their 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

Rookie James Wright had his first NHL goal and it was Tampa Bay's first win over San Jose at home since Nov. 15, 2002.

Wright struck just 30 seconds into the first period, and the Lightning added another goal at the 15:01 mark when Ryan Malone deflected a shot from defenseman David Hale for Malone's seventh goal of the season. The Sharks fought back and netted a goal, but Steven Stamkos quelled the surge when he stole the puck and connected on a wrist shot that put the Lightning up 3-1.

At 2:54 into the final period Andrej Meszaros gave Tampa Bay insurance when his shot was tipped by a Sharks defenseman int the net. The Sharks added another goal on a power play with six minutes left, but that was it for San Jose. Stamkos finished the successful evening with a final goal into an empty San Jose net with 19 seconds left in the game.

On Saturday, the Lightning took a 2-2 tie through overtime and into a shootout, then lost the shootout and the game, 3-2, to the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres tied the game with just 17 seconds left on a bad angle shot that worked its way through a crowd of players and under Lightning netminder Mike Smith's stick.

The Lightning charged the Buffalo net all game, and Vincent Lecavalier's first goal of the season sent the team into the first intermission up 1-0. The Sabres tied the score with 45 seconds left in the second period. The action was end-to-end in the final period and Steven Stamkos slipped one between Sabres netminder Ryan Miller's pads for a 2-1 lead.

The lead held despite a power play but with the Sabres' netminder pulled, a last-second shot put Buffalo back into the game with a 2-2 tie.

The overtime period was scoreless and the shootout went six rounds until Smith was beaten on a backhand shot for a 3-2 win in favor of the Sabres.