Lightning 4, Sabres 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A three-goal burst in the first period led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Center Steven Stamkos, center Tyler Johnson, right winger Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning (7-6-2). Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.
Center Jack Eichel scored for the Sabres (5-8-0).
After Sabres starting goalie Linus Ullmark surrendered three goals on 11 shots in the first period, he was replaced. Chad Johnson entered and stopped all 10 shots he faced.
After Tampa Bay struggled to find offense during a recent skid -- five losses in the previous six games -- the Lightning came out flying against the Sabres.
Stamkos opened the scoring 5:55 into the game following a defensive breakdown in the Sabres' zone. Center Vladislav Namestnikov found a wide-open Stamkos on a cross-ice pass to his left, and the Lightning captain buried a slap shot from the left circle for his seventh goal of the season.
Johnson made it 2-0 less than six minutes later. Center Alex Killorn found Johnson on the inside edge of the right circle with a backhand pass, and Johnson fired a wrist shot to the blocker side at 11:35.
Kucherov increased Tampa Bay's lead to 3-0 with 1:40 left in the period on a gritty goal from beside the Sabres' net. After taking a hit from Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Risolainen, Kucherov deposited a rebound into the net while falling to the ice. It was his fifth goal of the season.
Eichel got the Sabres on the board 4:21 into the second with yet another highlight-reel goal. The budding superstar moved away from Tampa Bay defenseman Andrej Sustr with a spin move along the left wall near the blue line before skating up ice. After some nifty stickhandling inside the left circle, Eichel snapped a hard wrist shot to the glove side for his fifth goal of the year.
Hedman added an empty-net goal with 30 seconds remaining.
Buffalo outshot Tampa Bay 21-8 in the second period and 31-22 overall but was unable to erase the deficit.
NOTES: D Carlo Colaiacovo and C Tim Schaller were scratched for the Sabres. ... D Matthew Carle, LW Jonathan Drouin (lower body) and LW Tye McGinn were scratched for the Lightning. McGinn missed a chance to play against his brother, Jamie McGinn. McGinn is a left winger for the Sabres. ... C Cedric Paquette returned for the Lightning after missing five games with an ankle injury. ... This was the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Lightning this season. Their fourth and final meeting takes place on Tuesday in Tampa Bay. This marks the second of eights sets of home-and-home games for the Sabres this season.