As they did on Sunday, the Lightning rallied for a come-from-behind victory against a quality opponent.
Entering this game, the Buffalo Sabres had posted a 21-4-1 record since early December, and they showed why they’ve been playing winning hockey. Despite playing the second half of a back-to-back, they competed hard throughout the contest and disrupted the Lightning’s attack with strong positional play.
Buffalo goaltender Colten Ellis also had an excellent game. He was especially sharp in the first period, a frame in which the Lightning registered 13 shots on net and generated several Grade-A scoring chances. He had no chance on the one goal he did allow in the period. A Buffalo d-zone turnover led to a Nikita Kucherov tally at 10:24 into an open side of the net.
The Sabres pushed back in the closing minutes of the first. They tied the game when forechecking pressure created a Lightning turnover and an open left-circle shot from Mattias Samuelsson that slipped past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 16:53.
The game remained tied into the third. Twice in the final frame, the Sabres grabbed a lead. Moments after the Lightning had a near miss at the side of the Buffalo net, the Sabres countered off the rush. Samuelsson snapped a shot from the slot past Vasilevskiy at 4:08.
The Lightning received only two power plays in the game, and the second of those came nearly three and a half minutes after they’d fallen behind. Darren Raddysh ripped a center-point shot on net. Ellis made the save but couldn’t control the rebound. Oliver Bjorkstrand pounded the rebound into the net, tying the game at 8:53.
But the Lightning took a penalty of their own with 7:05 left, and the Sabres applied heavy pressure during the ensuing power play. The Lightning were unable to get any of their four penalty killers off the ice for the duration of the power play. Tage Thompson set up Josh Doan for a backdoor tap-in with two seconds left on the PP.
The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra attacker with under two minutes left. With time winding down, Kucherov set up Raddysh at the center point, and Raddysh cranked a shot past Ellis at 19:34 to tie the game once more.
In overtime, the Sabres owned more possession than the Lightning and recorded five consecutive shots on net. But with less than 20 seconds left in OT, Rasmus Dahlin attempted to win a puck deep in the Tampa Bay end. Instead, J.J. Moser worked it to Kucherov. Jake Guentzel slipped behind Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs in the neutral zone. Kucherov wired a pass to Guentzel, who had finished his breakaway chance at 4:45.
It wasn’t the cleanest performance for the Lightning, but they made two key plays in the third period to rally from deficits and one more in OT to win it.
The Lightning wrap up their pre-Olympic-break schedule on Thursday against Florida.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Goal and three assists.
- Jake Guentzel — Lightning. GWG and assist.
- Mattias Samuelsson — Sabres. Two goals.
