Sabres at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning will have more experience and size on defense for the stretch run after acquiring 30-year-old blue-liner Braydon Coburn from Philadelphia at Monday’s trade deadline. Coburn could be in the lineup Tuesday when the Lightning host the cellar-dwelling Buffalo Sabres, who traded four players on their roster Monday. Tampa Bay is securely in a playoff position, but injuries have caused the Lightning to use four defensemen with 105 or fewer games of NHL experience of late.
“We feel we've accomplished what we wanted and that was to give us a better chance to win in the playoffs," Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman said. The Lightning boast good depth up front which allowed them to deal right wing Brett Connolly to Boston for a pair of second-round picks Monday as well. The Sabres, who own the least points in the league despite going 3-2-2 over the last seven games, traded three forwards and No. 1 goalie Michal Neuvirth on Monday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE SABRES (19-39-5): Neuvirth was sent to the New York Islanders in exchange for fellow goaltender Chad Johnson and that could give Tuesday’s start to former Lightning netminder Anders Lindback. The Sabres also dealt Chris Stewart, Brian Flynn and Torrey Mitchell in separate deals, but could get leading scorer Tyler Ennis back after he missed the last two games with injuries. Matt Moulson has been a major part of the team’s success in the last few weeks, producing six points in the last six contests.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (38-20-6): Tampa Bay shipped injured defenseman Radko Gudas along with first- and third-round picks in the 2015 draft for Coburn, who has played 614 regular-season contests and 72 in the playoffs. The Lightning are also expecting to get veteran defenseman Matt Carle back from the injured list in the next couple of weeks. Captain Steven Stamkos has warmed up in the last few weeks while posting seven goals in his last eight games and Tyler Johnson leads the team with 61 points.
OVERTIME
1. The Lightning won the last three games against the Sabres by a combined score of 12-2 after losing a shootout in the first meeting of the campaign.
2. Buffalo C Cody Hodgson registered a pair of goals in the last three games after producing two in his first 56 this season.
3. Tampa Bay G Ben Bishop is 6-0-1 with a .929 save percentage and 1.81 goals-against average in his career against the Sabres.