The Buffalo Sabres, coming off a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, hope to string together a pair of wins with a victory Tuesday night over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Though it’s still early in the season, this is actually the last time the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning will see each other this season. They’ve already met three times, with the Lightning winning all three meetings. Can the Sabres pick up a win against them this season?
If Buffalo does lose tonight, it would mark the first time in franchise history that the Lightning completed a season sweep of the Sabres.
The season series began on October 10, as the Lightning ousted the Sabres 4-1. Ben Bishop had 24 saves, while Erik Condra, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and J.T. Brown tallied for the Lightning.
Nicolas Deslauriers scored the lone goal for the Sabres, while Chad Johnson had 27 saves in the loss.
The teams reconvened a week later, and this time, the Sabres would fall by just one goal, in a 2-1 loss. Sam Reinhart notched his first NHL goal, but Vladislav Namestnikov and Alex Killorn tallied for the Lightning to capture the win. Johnson had 20 saves, while Bishop stopped 31 of 32 shots faced.
A few weeks later, the Lightning took a 4-1 win over Buffalo. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 30 saves in the win. Stamkos, Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning.
Jack Eichel had the lone goal for Buffalo, who split goaltending duties between Linus Ullmark (eight saves on 11 shots faced) and Chad Johnson (10 saves on as many shots faced).
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Heading into tonight’s game, the Sabres continue to deal with several injuries, including Zach Bogosian‘s lower-body injury that’s kept him out all season; Cody McCormick‘s blood clot complications, Robin Lehner‘s high ankle sprain and Evander Kane‘s MCL injury.
Despite being outscored 10-3 by the Lightning in their meetings this season, one high point for the Sabres: shots. They’ve been putting up a solid number in almost every game, and have outshot the Lightning 88-75 in three games this season. Even though the end results haven’t been ideal, it’s a good sign.
Ryan O’Reilly is leading the way for the Buffalo Sabres, with 13 points in 14 games this season. O’Reilly’s nine assists are top on the team. His seven power-play points are also best on the Sabres, and entering Monday’s games, O’Reilly was second in the league in faceoff percentage (59.9%) behind only Jonathan Toews.
Jack Eichel leads the team with five goals. Tyler Ennis, Eichel and Rasmus Ristolainen each have seven points on the season. Eichel is on a two-game point streak heading into Tuesday’s game and leads the team with 49 shots on goal this season. Ristolainen is second with 38, while O’Reilly is third with 37.
Ristolainen is also second on the Sabres with 23 blocked shots, behind only Josh Gorges (33).
Next: No Timetable for Bogosian
Victor Hedman leads the Lightning with 11 points (1-10) in 15 games. Stamkos’ seven goals are top on the team, while Hedman’s 10 assists lead in that category. Johnson and Kucherov have each registered eight points in 16 games.
For goalies, Ben Bishop has gone 5-7-0-1 this season, while Andrei Vasilevskiy is 2-0-0-0. Bishop has a 2.24 GAA and .920 save percentage, while Vasilevskiy has a 2.00 GAA and .939 save percentage in his two games.
Tonight’s game will be a tough test for the Buffalo Sabres, but perhaps the good news is that it’s the last meeting of the regular season with the Lightning, a team that Buffalo’s struggled with so far. Can they pull out a win? Can Jack Eichel notch his first away point? Will the Lightning simply overpower the Sabres once more?
Consider this your friendly reminder: tonight’s game is a 7:30 pm puck drop, and the game is being nationally televised on NBCSN — so don’t turn your dials to MSG expecting to see the game.
Following tonight’s game, the Buffalo Sabres finish out the Florida road trip with a game against the Panthers on Thursday at 7:30 pm. They’ll then return home for a pair of games against the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars.