Sabres at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning ended up making one of the biggest moves at the trade deadline Monday afternoon and could have one of their new acquisitions in the lineup Wednesday when they host the Eastern Conference-worst Buffalo Sabres. The Lightning have won four in a row and own a league-most 43 victories, but sent a major package to the New York Rangers in exchange for steady defenseman Ryan McDonagh and center J.T. Miller.
"Sure, you take notice that those teams improved themselves," Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman told reporters. "But for us, this wasn't a case of trying to keep up with the Joneses. We were just trying to improve. We think we've done that." McDonagh is recovering from an upper-body injury and will likely miss a few more games while Miller (13 goals, 40 points) could make his debut Wednesday against the Sabres, who beat the Lightning 5-3 on Feb. 13. Buffalo, which traded third-leading scorer Evander Kane to San Jose on Monday for a pair of draft picks and a prospect, has won two of their last three games after knocking off red-hot Boston 4-1 on Sunday. “We come to rise against good teams,” Sabres defenseman Nathan Beaulieu told reporters. “We know what’s at stake. … I think we got to try to (have that) mindset every night.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVA, MSG Buffalo, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE SABRES (19-33-11): Buffalo acquired forward Danny O’Regan in the deal with San Jose and the former fifth-round draft pick was a linemate of Sabres leading scorer Jack Eichel when they were together at Boston University. The 24-year-old O’Regan had four assists in 19 games with the Sharks this season and recorded 23 goals and 50 points in 41 contests with Eichel in 2014-15 when the Terriers reached the NCAA final. Eichel (53 points) is recovering from an ankle injury and second-leading scorer Ryan O’Reilly (45 points) has gone six games without a goal.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (43-17-3): Right wing Nikita Kucherov, who leads the league with 82 points, left Monday’s game with an upper-body injury but he could return Wednesday. Miller should help Tampa Bay in the faceoff circle with his 54.3 percentage and McDonagh is expected to add stability to a defense that has allowed 42 goals in 13 games this month - despite going 9-4-0. “He does everything really good,” Lightning defenseman Daniel Girardi told reporters of his former blue line partner McDonagh. “. … He thinks about the right net, he’s going to worry about defense first.”
OVERTIME
1. Buffalo D Rasmus Ristolainen has registered eight points in the last 10 games to reach 30 for the third straight season.
2. Tampa Bay C Brayden Point boasts five goals in the last five games and notched the shootout winner in the past two contests.
3. The Sabres’ 5-3 win earlier this month - with two goals from F Sam Reinhart - snapped a five-game losing streak against the Lightning.