At the Horn | Sabres 8 - Lightning 7

In arguably the game of the year, the Buffalo Sabres beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-7 on Sunday at KeyBank Center.

The Sabres (84 points) have won seven straight games and now have sole possession of the Atlantic Division lead.

Buffalo took a 4-1 lead in the second period, but Tampa Bay stormed back with five unanswered goals and took a two-goal lead early in the third. Jason Zucker tied it on a breakaway with 5:31 remaining, and Josh Doan gave Buffalo the lead with a power-play goal a minute later.

This game had too many goals to explain here, so keep scrolling for the full scoring summary and highlights.

Tage Thompson had a career-high four assists to extend his career-best point streak to 11 games (6+9), the longest by a Sabre since Jack Eichel (17 games) in 2019.

Buffalo continued its goalie rotation with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net. He made 21 saves on 28 shots and, most importantly, came away with the win.

As expected, it was a nasty night between the division rivals; Tampa Bay set that tone when Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli boarded Thompson after an early whistle, and Hagel later attacked Dahlin behind the play. There were five fights and 102 total penalty minutes in the game.

Statistics

Scoring summary

TBL 0, BUF 1 | Period 1, 8:26 (PP) – Josh Doan (20) from Tage Thompson (33) and Bowen Byram (23)

TBL 0, BUF 2 – Period 2, 2:15 (PP) – Jason Zucker (18) from Rasmus Dahlin (43) and Tage Thompson (34)

TBL 0, BUF 3 – Period 2, 5:10 (PP) – Alex Tuch (26) from Tage Thompson (35) and Noah Ostlund (14)

TBL 1, BUF 3 – Period 2, 7:55 – Corey Perry (13) from Nikita Kucherov (69) and Darren Raddysh (39)

TBL 1, BUF 4 – Period 2, 11:06 (SH) – Alex Tuch (27) from Bowen Byram (24)

TBL 2, BUF 4 – Period 2, 12:26 (PP) – Nikita Kucherov (33) and Darren Raddysh (40)

TBL 3, BUF 4 – Period 2, 14:46 – Zemgus Girgensons (8) from Yanni Gourde (16) and J.J. Moser (16)

TBL 4, BUF 4 – Period 2, 17:37 – J.J. Moser (6) from Conor Geekie (2)

TBL 5, BUF 4 – Period 3, 0:59 – Nikita Kucherov (32) from Brandon Hagel (29) and J.J. Moser (17)

TBL 6, BUF 4 – Period 3, 5:46 – Brayden Point (16) (unassisted)

TBL 6, BUF 5 – Period 3, 6:12 – Sam Carrick (5) from Zach Benson (21) and Michael Kesselring (2)

TBL 7, BUF 5 – Period 3, 9:47 – Brandon Hagel (30) from Darren Raddysh (41) and Nikita Kucherov (70)

TBL 7, BUF 6 – Period 3, 11:03 – Rasmus Dahlin (13) from Tage Thompson (36) and Bowen Byram (25)

TBL 7, BUF 7 – Period 3, 14:29 – Jason Zucker (19) from Ryan McLeod (33)

TBL 7, BUF 8 – Period 3, 15:43 (PP) – Josh Doan (21) from Jason Zucker (15) and Rasmus Dahlin (44)

Game photos

Full highlights

Postgame sound

Up next

The homestand continues Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the San Jose Sharks. MSG’s pregame coverage starts at 6:30.

Limited tickets are still available – get yours today.