Sam Reinhart joins the top line as the Buffalo Sabres host Tampa Bay

Coming off an exciting comeback win on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, the Buffalo Sabres host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a divisional matchup.

The Buffalo Sabres recovered from a 2 goal deficit to beat the Vancouver Canucks in a shootout 4-3 for yet another Saturday afternoon win.

Head coach Phil Housley shook up the top line heading into the 3rd period as he moved Sam Reinhart up to skate with Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner. The line responded by scoring 2 goals in the final 3 minutes to send the game into overtime. The game was won by Casey Mittelstadt‘s sweet move in the shootout:

Sam Reinhart has been red hot of late with 1 goal and 5 assists in his last 4 games and in one of the craziest Sabres’ statistics that I have read in a while, the Buffalo Sabres are 24-2-3 when Reinhart registers a point.

The move back to the top line for Reinhart seems to be coming at the perfect time. The trio skated together to start the season and now Jeff Skinner is 2nd in the league in goals and Eichel is 7th in the league in assists and even strength points.

“Things have been going well lately. I’m trying to play the same way regardless where I am in the lineup. The last few games, [Rodrigues and Sobotka] and I played well together but this is a different opportunity for me, too.” – Sam Reinhart

Jason Pominville will be moved to a line with Vladimir Sobotka and Evan Rodrigues. Sobotka scored 2 goals against Montreal and Pominville might be the spark the line needs to get moving.

“I’m fine with whatever line I’m on. We know lines can change after wins or after losses and they’ll change again. ‘Roger’ [Rodrigues] and I have had success. And ‘Sobi’ [Sobotka] is a smart player, fun to play with. We can jell well and be a reliable line. And we have two guys who take faceoffs too.” – Jason Pominville

Tage Thompson will remain in the lineup tonight, this time replacing Patrik Berglund with Zesmus Girgensons returning. Thompson did not play remarkably well against Vancouver but Phil Housley likes the matchup with Tampa Bay for Thompson.

Phil Housley also reunited Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Ristolainen pairing in the 3rd period and the two responded by assisting on both goals. The defensive pairing will return to how they started the Vancouver game though with Dahlin being paired with Nathan Beaulieu again.

Although Nathan Beaulieu’s performance improved compared to his first game back in Montreal, he was still had a CF% of only 37.5% which was lowest among all Sabres defensemen. He was used very little in the second half of the 3rd period on Saturday and will continue to see action as Casey Nelson remains a healthy scratch.

Tampa Bay comes into tonight with the best record in the Eastern Conference and second best record in the NHL. Their offense has been consistent throughout the top of the lineup and the 2nd line of Yanni Gourde–Brayden Point–Tyler Johnson is one of the most productive lines in the league.

The Lightning will have their backup goaltender Louis Domingue in net tonight as Andrei Vasilevskiy has started the last 3 games. Carter Hutton will be back in goal for Buffalo.

Tonight’s game is at 7:30 can be seen on NBCSN and heard on WGR 550.