Palat and St. Louis score 3rd-period goals, Lightning beat Sabres 3-2

TAMPA, Fla. - Ondrej Palat and Martin St. Louis scored third-period goals to help the Tampa Bay Lightning rally for a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

After St. Louis pulled the Lightning even at 14:09, Palat made it 3-2 from the low slot 1:46 later.

Tyler Johnson had the other Tampa Bay goal as the Lightning completed a seven-game homestand with a 5-2 record.

Brian Flynn and Thomas Vanek scored for Buffalo, which was coming off a 3-1 win at Florida on Friday night in which the Sabres were outshot 45-21.

Buffalo took a 2-1 lead when Vanek scored from the low left circle after taking a nifty pass from Marcus Foligno 12:46 into the third. Vanek has 24 goals and 39 points in 33 games against Tampa Bay.

Flynn tied it at 1-all with 7:02 left in the second when he scored off a pass through the crease by Cody McCormick.

Johnson put the Lightning up 1-0 on a rebound power-play goal at 12:48 of the first. The goal came after Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers failed to swat away the puck after Ryan Miller made a save on Valtteri Filppula's shot.

Buffalo has been outscored 16-1 during the first period this season.

Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop stopped a backhand by Steve Ott during a breakaway midway through the first.

Miller made several nice saves early in the second when Tampa Bay had two power plays. The goalie made a post-to-post save on St. Louis' right circle shot.

NOTES: Buffalo LW Ville Leino, activated before the game from injured reserve, had an assist. He missed 11 games due to a rib injury. ... The Sabres placed D Mike Weber on IR with an upper-body injury. ... Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman, who took a shot off his right foot in Thursday's win over Chicago, played.