Lightning 5, Sabres 1
Ondrej Palat recorded a career-high four points with a goal and three assists as visiting Tampa Bay pulled away from Buffalo for its fourth consecutive victory.
Nikita Kucherov collected two goals and an assist while Brett Connolly and defenseman Matt Carle also tallied for the Lightning, who allowed one shot in the third period. Tyler Johnson contributed three assists, defenseman Anton Stralman added two and Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 10 shots for his third victory in four NHL games.
Tyler Ennis scored his first goal in 10 games for the Sabres, who have managed just one victory in their last seven contests (1-5-1). Jhonas Enroth made 20 saves for Buffalo, which did not get its shot on goal in the third until the 15:19 mark and has given up 33 goals in its last seven games.
Palat snapped a 1-1 tie during a power play with 58 seconds left in the second session, whipping a shot from the left faceoff circle over Enroth’s blocker after a cross-ice pass from Johnson. Connolly knocked in a rebound 5:20 into the third and Kucherov tipped in a loose puck after Johnson’s shot squirted past Enroth 3:20 later for a 4-1 lead.
Carle accepted a pass from Palat and hammered a shot from the top of the right circle that beat a screened Enroth 7:48 into the game to open the scoring. Ennis forged a tie during a man advantage at 12:33, when his shot from the right point deflected off Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman’s stick and bounced past Vasilevskiy.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Kucherov has registered 14 points in his last 10 games. … With Jason Garrison and Radko Gudas out with injuries, the Lightning recalled fellow D Nikita Nesterov, and the 21-year-old Russian logged 15:02 of ice time in his NHL debut. … Buffalo was without D Rasmus Ristolainen for the second straight contest due to illness, while D Tyson Strachan returned after missing five games with an upper-body injury. … Buffalo C Cody McCormick played in his 400th NHL contest.