Sabres at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning look to build off one of their best performances in some time when they host the NHL-worst Buffalo Sabres on Friday night in the final home game of the regular season. The Lightning won for only the second time in six outings Tuesday as they rolled to a 4-0 victory over Boston, and need two victories to edge the Bruins for the Atlantic Division title.
“There has been a lot of chatter in the media about getting this win to validate us,” Tampa Bay right wing Ryan Callahan told reporters Tuesday. “But we have confidence in here. … We were worried about the two points more than mentally getting a win against Boston.” The Lightning, who have posted a franchise-record 110 points and play at Carolina on Saturday, own the tiebreaker on Boston in the race for first place while the Sabres have dropped seven of their last nine contests. Buffalo suffered a 4-2 loss to Ottawa in its home finale Wednesday and has played better on the road this season with points in 21 of 39 games (14-18-7). “I don’t think anyone coming in envisioned this,” Sabres veteran forward Jason Pominville told the Buffalo News of the season. “Certainly not myself being on the outside coming in and hoping that we’d be headed in the right direction. Sometimes we are, but for the most part we’re not. We take steps forward, and then we take a couple back. I still don’t believe we should be where we’re at, but we are there. Things got to change.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG Buffalo, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE SABRES (25-43-12): Leading scorer Jack Eichel (62 points) has been kept off the scoresheet in the last two games after posting three goals and five assists in his previous three outings. Forwards Ryan O’Reilly (23 goals, 59 points) and Sam Reinhart (24, 49) each have recorded six points in their last four games while defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (six, 34) boasts five assists in the same span. Rookie center Casey Mittelstadt has registered three assists in his first four NHL contests and fellow eighth-overall pick Alex Nylander did not have a point Wednesday in his first game of the season with the Sabres.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (53-23-4): Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had allowed at least three goals in nine of his previous 10 outings before turning aside 33 shots for his franchise-record eighth shutout of the season Tuesday. “It’s nice to get that shutout before the playoffs,” Vasilevskiy told reporters after earning his NHL-best 43rd win. “We can get some confidence from this game, and we have to play the same way in the next two games.” Right wing Nikita Kucherov had an assist in Tuesday’s win to pull within two points of 100 while captain Steven Stamkos is second on the team (86), but is questionable with a lower-body injury.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman boasts 12 of his 61 points in the last 11 games and leads all blue liners in the league with a plus-30 rating.
2. Buffalo RW Kyle Okposo has scored three times in his last three contests to push his total to 43 points, but is a career-worst minus-31.
3. The Sabres have won two of the three meetings with the Lightning this season, including a 2-1 overtime victory at Tampa Bay on Feb. 28.