Sabres lean on past matchups in preparation for Lightning

TAMPA - Prior to taking the ice for an optional skate at Amalie Arena, the Sabres spent their morning reviewing past meetings with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The hope, Jason Pominville said, is that the lessons of those first three games will provide a winning recipe when the Sabres conclude their season series with the Lightning tonight.
"It showed the way that we played against them, the things that we did well against them and why we had success," Pominville said. "They're obviously a really good offensive team. They want to play offense, they don't want to play defense.

"We've got to make sure that we make them play defense and make them have to come 200 feet. That was kind of the message this morning."

Not only do the Lightning hold a 15-point lead over the rest of the league in the standings, they have a chance to put together one of the best regular seasons of all-time. They're on pace for 62 wins, which would tie the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for the most in NHL history.
The Sabres handed the Lightning one of their 11 losses when the two teams first met in Buffalo on Nov. 13, then played their way to third-period leads before dropping tightly-contested games in the next two matchups.
"It starts with good puck management," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "A lot of times they do a good job with getting on top of people and we have to put pucks behind them. From that point, we just have to value possession.
"… We've just got to hang onto pucks and wear them down in the defensive zone. When we've done that, we've been able to get into our five-man cycle game, we've been able to get pucks to the net, get second opportunities. We've got to lean on that a little bit more tonight just to try to take the puck out of their hands."

The Sabres have dropped four of their last five games but hope that the challenge presented tonight could provide the spark that leads to a turnaround.
"We have to find ways to get on a roll. No better way than playing the best team in the league," Pominville said. "We know we have to be on our A game, we know we have to be smart, defend hard and be good with the puck.
"Hopefully it gets the best out of us and hopefully we can start this run with us finding a way to beat the best team in the league."
The Sabres will go with Linus Ullmark in net for the second straight game, while Andrei Vasilevskiy will start for the Lightning.
Coverage on MSG-B begins at 7 p.m. with the GMC Game Night pregame show, or you can listen live on WGR 550. The puck drops at 7:30.

Projected lineup

Housley said the defense will be a game-time decision. Up front, Evan Rodrigues is expected to skate alongside Jeff Skinner and Jack Eichel while Pominville will join a line with Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson.
Here's how the Sabres lined up at practice on Wednesday:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 71 Evan Rodrigues
43 Conor Sheary - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 23 Sam Reinhart
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 22 Johan Larsson - 29 Jason Pominville
49 C.J. Smith - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 72 Tage Thompson
19 Jake McCabe - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 4 Zach Bogosian
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 8 Casey Nelson
24 Lawrence Pilut - 48 Matt Hunwick
35 Linus Ullmark
40 Carter Hutton