Sabres break tie late, edge Lightning in wild back-and-forth game for 7th straight win

BUFFALO -- Josh Doan scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 4:17 left in the third period, and the Buffalo Sabres won their seventh straight game with an 8-7 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center on Sunday.

Doan swept in a loose puck after Rasmus Dahlin's shot from the point hit off the post for a power-play goal.

“Obviously it’s exciting, but at the same time, I’ve been put in an opportunity to be successful here and help our team win,” said Doan, who has scored 21 goals after getting seven last year with Utah in his first full season. “… It’s a nice accomplishment, but we’ve got 18 or 19 games to go and hopefully we can keep racking up some wins.”

Tage Thompson had four assists, Jason Zucker had two goals and an assist, Alex Tuch scored twice and Dahlin had a goal and two assists for the Sabres (39-19-6), who moved into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of Tampa Bay. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves.

Buffalo was coming off a 3-2 win against the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

“I think the group has got real tight, and it showed tonight,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “They answered every call, they were there at every play. … Just how hard we worked to get back in the game. There was no quit. The desire to finish this thing the right way, I thought every guy was on board.”

Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, J.J. Moser had a goal and two assists, and Darren Raddysh had three assists for the Lightning (39-19-4), who were coming off a 5-2 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday but have lost five of their past six games. Jonas Johansson made 34 saves.

“The bottom line is, we gave up five special-team goals,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We gave up four power-play goals and a shorty. That was the game. I could have handled the rest of it, no problem. … But just the fact that we gave up those special team goals, that's the part I'm a little irked about.”

Kucherov cut it to 4-2 on the power play at 12:26 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected in off Tuch’s skate.

Zemgus Girgensons narrowed it to 4-3 at 14:46 when he beat Luukkonen glove side, and Moser scored from the slot to tie it 4-4 at 17:37.

Kucherov then scored 59 seconds into the third period on a one-timer from the right circle to give the Lightning their first lead of the game, 5-4.

Brayden Point made it 6-4 at 5:46 when his centering pass was knocked into the net by Buffalo defenseman Bowen Byram.

Sam Carrick cut it to 6-5 at 6:12, scoring far side from the right circle, but Hagel pushed the lead to 7-5 at 9:48 by one-timing a rebound from the left circle.

“We’ve been kind of a team that's done that all year and kind of a team that's finished it,” Tampa Bay forward Brandon Hagel said. “But I mean, those are things we can clean up. We obviously got to be better. Eight goals, it’s unacceptable.”

Dahlin got the Sabres to within 7-6 at 11:03 when he cut to the net and put in a wrist shot blocker side. Zucker then scored on a breakaway to tie it 7-7 at 14:29.

It was a physical affair between the division rivals, who faced each other for the second time in eight days after the Sabres defeated the Lightning 6-2 in Tampa on Feb. 28. They combined for 70 penalty minutes in the first period, with scrums developing after nearly every whistle.

“This game was a huge step for us as a team,” Dahlin said. “Every guy in this room was a part of it and stepped up when we had to. I’m so proud of the guys, and this is just going to make us even better. We’re brothers in here. You could really see that, too.”

Doan gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead on the power play at 8:26 of the first period. He took a pass from Thompson along the goal line and lifted it over Johansson short side.

Zucker also scored on the power play to make it 2-0 at 2:15 of the second, putting a snap shot past Johansson from the right circle.

Tuch scored Buffalo’s third consecutive power-play goal to extend the lead to 3-0 at 5:10. He was in front of the net to tip Thompson’s shot from the left circle past Johansson glove side.

Corey Perry scored for the second straight game to cut it to 3-1 at 7:55, taking a pass from Kucherov to the front of the net and lifting a backhand over Luukkonen.

Tuch made it 4-1 at 11:07, breaking in and sliding a backhand through Johansson’s pads for a short-handed goal.

“That’s going to be one we’re going to remember for a while,” Tuch said. “It was a battle last game. It was an absolute battle this game. We’re going to continue to see each other down the stretch here. That’s the type of effort we’re going to need, though. That’s the type of confidence we have. We know we can come back from games like that. Just really proud of our group. On to the next now.”

NOTES: It was the 16th game in NHL history to feature both teams combining for at least seven goals in multiple periods and first since the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues on Nov. 25, 1992. … It was the sixth game this season in which both teams have rallied to at least tie the game after trailing by multiple goals, the most in a single campaign since 2008-09 (seven). It was also the fourth game in the past 30 years with at least seven players each recording at least three points. … Kucherov has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past two games. … The last time the Sabres were in first place in the division at this stage of the season or later was April 11, 2010, when they won the Northeast Division in Ruff’s first stint with the team. … Thompson has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in an 11-game point streak.