Tampa, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - The Buffalo Sabres ended up on the losing end of an overtime decision on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay, falling to the Lightning, 4-3, at Benchmark International Arena.
Halfway through the opening period saw the game's first goal being scored, and it was Nikita Kucherov as the beneficiary of a Rasmus Dahlin turnover.
Dahlin's stick was broken earlier in the Tampa Bay possession. Jason Zucker gave up his stick to the captain, but the next time the puck found Dahlin, he coughed the puck up to Jake Guentzel.
The Lightning forward then quickly found his linemate, and Kucherov opened the scoring 10:24 into the game.
Just over six minutes later, Mattias Samuelsson added to his magical turnaround season and tied the game at 1-1.
Samuelsson was able to skate in deep toward the red line, and fired a tight-angle shot that squeaked just between goalie Andrei Vasilevksiy's right-side and the pipe.
The second period saw no goals from either side, but a mountain of pressure from the Lightning. Tampa Bay edged the Sabres to the tune of a 10-4 shot advantage, but goalie Colten Ellis stopped everything thrown his way for Buffalo.
Four minutes into the third period, the Sabres took their first lead of the game. It was Samuelsson for a second time, as he accepted a pass from Ryan McLeod, skated straight down the gut and beat Vasilevskiy to make it 2-1, Buffalo.
The Lightning drew even with about nine minutes gone in the frame thanks to a power play goal from forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. He pounced on a rebound in front of the Buffalo net to even the score at 2-2.
The Sabres later found themselves on a man advantage of their own when they took a late lead in regulation.
A strong power play was capped off by a Josh Doan goal in the crease, which gave the Sabres a crucial lead with just about five minutes remaining.
However, the Lightning had one more answer in them in regulation.
With just 26 seconds left in the game, defenseman Darren Raddysh let go of a big shot from the blue line that made it through traffic in front of Ellis to tie the game at 3-3, and force overtime in Tampa Bay.
Both sides exhausted almost all the extra period had to offer without settling anything, until Kucherov hooked up with Guentzel to end it.
The forward snuck behind Peyton Krebs and tore down the ice for a 1-on-1 chance against Ellis. Guentzel went five-hole on the Sabres netminder to seal the game and cap off a come-from-behind effort on home ice.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 16:53 - Mattias Samuelsson (10) (Unassisted)
TBL: 10:24 - Nikita Kucherov (29) (Jake Guentzel)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
TBL: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 4:08 - Mattias Samuelsson (11) (Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn); 14:53 - Josh Doan (18) PPG (Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin)
TBL: 8:53 - Oliver Bjorkstrand (9) PPG (Darren Raddysh, Nikita Kucherov); 19:34 - Darren Raddysh (17) (Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel)
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
TBL: 4:45 - Jake Guentzel (25) (Nikita Kucherov, JJ Moser)
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BlueStar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Jake Guentzel - TBL
2.) Nikita Kucherov - TBL
3.) Mattias Samuelsson - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres' final game before the Olympic break comes on Thursday night when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins back in Buffalo. Puck drop at KeyBank Center is set for 7 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.