Kucherov has hat trick for Lightning in win against Sabres

BUFFALO -- Nikita Kucherov scored his fourth NHL hat trick, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

The goals were the first for Kucherov in three games since returning to the lineup Thursday after missing 32 games with a lower-body injury sustained Oct. 16. He had surgery Oct. 26.
"He's a special player and I think we all see that," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "His vision and his anticipation of what goes on, he's steps ahead of everybody out there. His timing's still coming back, he'll be the first I think to tell you that. … This game's tough and he's being rewarded. You're seeing these points but it's the little, subtle things he's doing in the D zone, in the breakouts and all those other things that we as coaches really respect and appreciate that he's doing 200 feet [down] the ice. Hopefully he only gets better from here."

Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists, and Alex Killorn had three assists for the Lightning (24-9-5), who have won three of four. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves for his 20th victory of the season.
Vinnie Hinostroza scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed two goals on nine shots before leaving after the first period with a lower-body injury. Buffalo coach Don Granato didn't have an update after the game.
Malcolm Subban made 23 saves in relief for the Sabres (10-19-6), who have lost six in a row (0-4-2).
"Obviously, we needed a better effort," Granato said. "It was individual, but it was collective. And you could tell they were ready for us. They were ultra-sharp tonight and they executed. Obviously, they got a full lineup back with Kucherov coming back and they're healthy right now and they're feeling it. You could see that tonight. We didn't execute, obviously, the way we wanted. No excuses. We weren't sharp and we paid the price."
Ondrej Palat took a pass from Victor Hedman in the slot and scored glove-side on Luukkonen to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 2:46 of the first period. Palat has five goals in a four-game goal streak.
Anthony Cirelli scored from the slot on an odd-man rush to make it 2-0 at 10:45.
"We knew we didn't play our best the last game so we wanted to come out and get a good start, and I thought we did," Stamkos said.

Kucherov pushed the lead to 3-0 on the power play 27 seconds into the second period, scoring from the top of the right circle after an easy zone entry. He extended it to 4-0 at 10:21 moments after leaving the penalty box, tapping in a cross-ice pass from Corey Perry at the left of the net.
Killorn sent a pass from behind the net to Stamkos coming into the slot to make it 5-0 at 14:04.
Hinostroza capitalized on a rebound that bounced to him at the bottom of the left circle on the power play to cut it to 5-1 at 5:31 of the third period.
Kucherov scored from the high slot at 13:57 for the 6-1 final.
"It was our own fault," Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons said. "We gave some high-danger scoring chances to one of the top scoring teams. It was our own fault. At this point it was just mental to get back into it. It was a tough night. That's not how we want to play."
Palat left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury.
"'Pally's' working through something," Cooper said. "So we just thought that anytime we can give him some rest we'll give him some rest, and that's what we did tonight."
NOTES: Kucherov tied Tyler Johnson for the fourth most hat tricks in Lightning history behind Stamkos (9), Martin St. Louis (8) and Vincent Lecavalier (6). … Vasilevskiy has won 20 or more games in six straight seasons. … Lightning defenseman Zach Bogosian was plus-2 with two hits in 18:25 in his first game against the Sabres since being placed on unconditional waivers Feb. 21, 2020. … Palat played his 589th game to tie Johnson for seventh place in Tampa Bay history. … Forward Jack Quinn, selected by the Sabres with the No. 8 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, played 16:30 and had three shots on goal in his NHL debut.