Sabres at Lightning
THE STORY: The Buffalo Sabres will have to do something they have not done all season Monday to improve their position in the playoff chase. They must beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Sabres are 0-3 against the Lightning, including a shutout at Tampa Bay in October. Buffalo is 9-2-4 over the last month to pull within two points of eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Tampa Bay has dropped five of its last six games.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG Buffalo (Sabres), SunSports (Lightning)
ABOUT THE SABRES (33-29-10): Buffalo lost its second straight game in a shootout Saturday at Florida, falling to 7-6 in the tiebreaker. Goaltender Ryan Miller has only lost once in regulation since Feb. 14. Miller is 17-7 lifetime against the Lightning despite being 0-3 with a .895 save percentage this season. Thomas Vanek has only one goal in 11 games, but has 23 in 27 against the Lightning in his career. Jason Pominville leads the Sabres with 64 points and Tyler Ennis has 15 points in his last 16 games. Cody Hodgson has no points in 10 games since being acquired from Vancouver.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (32-32-7): Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis could be getting a bit worn down. Stamkos has three points in his last five games and St. Louis three in six, while each playing more than 23 minutes in eight of the last nine games. Injuries, specifically to captain Vincent Lecavalier, and trades have forced the Lightning’s top two scorers to play big minutes trying to keep them in the playoff race. Forward Nate Thompson went down with an upper body injury Thursday and Ryan Shannon was lost with the same Saturday. Both are questionable.
OVERTIME:
1. Buffalo is 10-3-0 in the last seven seasons at Tampa Bay.
2. Tampa Bay defenseman Brendan Mikkelson scored his first NHL goal Thursday in his 116th game. He was filling in as a forward.
3. Buffalo had killed off 19 of 19 power plays in nine games before allowing one in each of the last two.