Jason Zucker scored the winning goal late in the second period and the Buffalo Sabres locked it down from there to earn a 3-2 win in their crucial division matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center on Monday.
The win pulled the Sabres back into a tie with the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division with 102 points, two ahead of the third-place Montreal Canadiens. The Lightning and Canadiens each have one game in hand on the Sabres.
The game was Buffalo’s first on home ice since officially clinching the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2011 on Saturday, as well as the first rematch between the Sabres and Lightning since last month’s fight-filled, 8-7 affair. Both factors made for a raucous environment at KeyBank Center, which saw its 16th consecutive sellout.
Buffalo’s 102 points are its most in a single season since the 113-point Presidents’ Trophy campaign in 2006-07.
Alex Tuch, Josh Norris and Jack Quinn also scored for the Sabres. Zucker’s goal broke a 2-2 tie with 12:22 remaining in the second period.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves to outduel Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, whose 25-save performance included multiple point-blank stops on Tuch and another in-close glove save on Zach Benson.
Buffalo concludes its four-game season series against Tampa Bay at 3-0-1.
