Kucherov gets 99th assist for Lightning in loss to Sabres

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov got his 99th assist of the season, but the Tampa Bay Lightning lost 4-2 to the Buffalo Sabres at Amalie Arena on Monday.

Dylan Cozens had two goals and an assist for the Sabres (39-37-6), who played their final game of the season. Eric Comrie made 31 saves for his first win since Oct. 21 (2-7-0 this season).

"These guys worked so hard for me," Comrie said. "It hasn’t been a great year for me, everyone knows that. I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs this year, getting sent down and not winning for a long time. It was nice that my hard work and work ethic paid off. Whatever happens to me, it’s been an honor to play with these guys and an honor to be a Buffalo Sabre."

Buffalo missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 13th consecutive season.

"There were a lot of great efforts out there tonight," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "Obviously, I can reflect that we’re not where we wanted to be for the season, and let’s leave it at that."

Steven Stamkos scored his 40th goal of the season for the Lightning (44-29-8), who have clinched the first wild card from the Eastern Conference. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.

"At times tonight it looked like we just wanted to get out of the game instead of finishing it through," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "The short-handed goal probably popped our bubble a little bit. We were just flat. It looked more like we were just trying to get the game over with and make sure we didn't lose anybody else."

Cozens gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 1:26 of the first period when he stuffed in a rebound from below the left face-off circle off a shot from Jack Quinn.

Stamkos tied it 1-1 at 2:27 of the second period. Kucherov won the puck from Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin at the top of the crease and fed Stamkos, who scored from the low slot.

"Just sloppy, sloppy, sloppy," Stamkos said. "We lost another guy [Luke Glendening] tonight, that's tough to see. Not much to look at that was good tonight. We've got one game left to just do the little things right. The stuff that we practice every day in practice. You want to feel good about yourselves heading into the playoffs. Usually the mood is a lot better when you're winning, so let's do that."

Cozens made it 2-1 with a short-handed goal at 5:08, scoring with a one-timer from below the right circle off a pass from Jordan Greenway.

"I'm not going to be thinking about much other than not being in the playoffs," Cozens said. "That’s the biggest thing that will be on my mind. It will be on my mind every day this summer, every time I’m on the ice, every time I’m in the gym. It’s going to be a big summer for a lot of us, we’ve got a lot to prove and we’re hungry."

Greenway extended Buffalo’s lead to 3-1 at 16:13 when he put in a cross-crease pass from Zemgus Girgensons at the left post.

Erik Cernak cut it to 3-2 at 9:39 of the third period with a shot from the point off a pass from Nicholas Paul.

"We wanted to win these last couple of games," Paul said. "We didn't do it tonight, so win [Wednesday]. Not just win, but play playoff hockey. Play as a team, eliminate turnovers, limit their time and space, play simple and play hard."

Zach Benson made it 4-2 at 9:54, chipping-in a pass from Quinn at the left post.

"A lot of times, you can just mail it in at the end of the season when you’re not going to the playoffs,” Buffalo forward Alex Tuch said. "But the guys in here all came out, the mindset was to battle hard for our guy [Comrie]. That’s what it came down to."

NOTES: Luke Glendening left the game in the first period after taking a check into the boards. Cooper said he will not play Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and his status for the playoffs is yet to be determined. ... Stamkos has seven 40-goal seasons. ... Quinn had four points (two goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak.