Special Teams Make the Difference as Sabres Top Lightning 8-7

It was a physical matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night. The two teams met for the second time in eight days, and based on what we saw, some bad blood may have carried over. Move over, Battle of Florida.

First place in the Atlantic was up for grabs as the Lightning and Sabres squared off. There were five fights in the first period, plus another one just six seconds into the second.

Josh Doan opened the scoring, giving Buffalo a 1-0 lead on the power play at 8:26 of the first period. The Sabres extended the lead to 3-0 before Corey Perry scored for the second straight game to cut it to 3-1.

“I think obviously there’s a lot of things we can tidy up, but I think we got better as a team today and in some different aspects we came together as one,” said Brandon Hagel. “This is the type of team I want in this dressing room. Obviously, eight goals.. that’s easy to clean up for us. I think all of us can leave here knowing we have a good team in here.”

In the end, special teams made the difference. After 40 minutes, the power-play opportunities favored Buffalo, 6–2, and the Sabres made the most of it with three power-play goals. They also added a shorthanded goal during the second period. The Lightning buckled down and climbed out of a three-goal deficit, scoring five straight to carry a 7-5 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game.

“The bottom line is we gave up five special teams goals,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game. “We gave up four power-play goals and a shorty. That was the game. The fact that we gave up those special teams goals, that’s the part I’m a little irked about, so we have to shore that up.”

The Lightning, who have worked to become a strong 5-on-5 team over the past couple of years, outscored Buffalo 6-3 at even strength last night. Their penalty kill, third-best in the NHL, had an uncharacteristically off night.

“The percentages don’t add up when you take that many penalties, which we did, but you’ve got to kill more than three of them off,” said Cooper. “That’s what we have to shore up. But the rest of our game, loved it.”

The Lightning have spent most of the season atop the Atlantic Division. Sunday’s 8-7 loss, which extended Buffalo’s win streak to seven, moved Tampa Bay out of first place for the first time since late January.

“Eight goals is unacceptable,” said Hagel. “I think every guy in this room can say the same. I think every guy on their side can say the exact same thing, too. You don’t see these every day. But one thing we can learn from this is we know we’ve got a team, a big group of one in here and everyone will stick up for each other.”

Nikita Kucherov, who finished the night with two goals and an assist, has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past two games. He remains just one point behind Nathan MacKinnon for third place in league scoring.