The Tampa Bay Lightning concluded their first road trip of the season Tuesday night with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. After dropping the first two games of the trip in Detroit and Ottawa, it looked like the Bolts may return home with zero of a possible six points, but a late goal from Brandon Hagel evened the score and sent the game to overtime to secure a point.
Buffalo opened the scoring 8:57 into the first period when the Lightning got caught in a line change, allowing Tyson Jost to send a stretch pass to Zemgus Girgensons, who got a clean look at the net and beat Jonas Johansson with a quick snap shot to the far post.
After some miscommunication by the Bolts in the defensive zone, Owen Power found Jeff Skinner all alone on the back door and he scored his first goal of the season with 4:32 left in the opening frame to send the Sabres to the locker room with a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Tampa Bay got on the board with 2:02 remaining in the second period with Hagel scoring his first goal of the night and third of the season. Working on the forecheck with Tanner Jeannot and Anthony Cirelli below the goal line, Hagel slid out to the front of the net before Cirelli and Jeannot were able to work the puck into the low slot, where Hagel was waiting to quickly fire a shot far side and over the glove of Devon Levi.
As the Lightning continued to push for the game-tying goal, they began to tilt the ice in the third period and got the equalizer with just seven seconds remaining to earn a point and send the game to overtime. With Jonas Johansson on the bench for an extra attacker, the Bolts continued to throw shots towards the net, where Hagel was working relentlessly and got rewarded by jumping on a loose puck and jamming it past Levi for his fourth goal in as many games.
With a big point in the bank for Lightning, they hoped to grab the second one in overtime, but after Buffalo won the opening faceoff, they were able to maintain possession and Dylan Cozens netted the game-winner with a shot off the post 1:46 into the extra frame.
Johansson made 28 saves on 31 shots against in his third start of the season.
Bolts Quotes
Jon Cooper: “You're sitting there 2-0 down in the game and I just thought we got better and better. I never felt that we were in trouble and it's unfortunate we didn't touch the puck in overtime, but they deserved for sure a point, maybe two out of that. We've just got to keep plugging away. This league can humble you. You've got to have that mental fortitude to fight your way through it. But you look at a lot of what we've done as a group, it's been excellent. We just haven't been able to generate when we needed to.”
Brandon Hagel: “It's frustrating for everyone. Everyone wants to win...It's not fun. It's not what we're here to do. We want to get the two points, but at the end of the day, the effort and everything just have to continue to be there and if we do that, I think wins are going to come.”
Jon Cooper: “Another big thing too is we had [23] missed shots. We had some glorious looks and we just kept missing the net. If you're going to do that, now you're taking away chances for rebounds or taking away chances just blatantly to score. I thought that hurt us a little bit, but I've got to look at this game and say this was a step forward.”
Jon Cooper: “The one thing, as you try to find an identity with a team, we work. Those guys work.”
Bolts by the Numbers
- Tampa Bay missed the net 23 times Tuesday night, tied for the second-most missed shots they’ve had in a game over the past five seasons.
- Brandon Hagel has scored four goals through the first four games of the season. He’s tied for the second-most goals among all NHL skaters this season.
- Erik Cernak skated in his 300th career game with Tampa Bay, making him the 13th defenseman in franchise history to hit the milestone.
- Anthony Cirelli has picked up points in three consecutive contests with a goal and two assists over the three-game road trip.
- Tanner Jeannot finished the road trip with three points as well. He had a two-point night in Ottawa with a goal and an assist before recording one assist Tuesday in Buffalo.
- Brayden Point recorded his fourth assist of the season, tying him with Victor Hedman for the most among all Lightning skaters. Point’s assist was the 467th point of his career, moving him past Alex Killorn and into seventh place for the most points in Lightning franchise history.
- Brayden Point logged 26:26 time on ice, the second-highest total of his career.
- Darren Raddysh played 23:06, a new career high.
Krenner’s Three Stars
- Brandon Hagel
- Dylan Cozens
- Anthony Cirelli
