Sabres struck by Lightning, fall 5-2 in Tampa Bay

A third period, special teams-driven collapse doomed the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night en route to a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.

With Buffalo trailing 3-2 in the third period, the blue and gold allowed a pair of shorthanded goals in less than a minute's time to give the Lightning a comforting win on home ice.

It was a nightmare start for the Sabres as Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov casehd in on a turnover from defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen just 13-seconds into the game. Ristolainen tried to bank the puck off the boards and out of the Buffalo zone, but it hit the linesman and went right to Lightning forward Ondrej Palat. Palat then found Kucherov out in front and the reigning Hart Trophy winner was able to get his eighth goal of the season past Sabres goalie Carter Hutton.

Buffalo responded a little over three minutes later with Jack Eichel carrying the puck into the offensive zone and dishing a pass off to Victor Olofsson down the right wing side. Olofsson got a shot on Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, which produced a rebound for Sam Reinhart that he cleaned up, catching Vasilevskiy out of position for his ninth goal of the season.

With the secondary assist on Reinhart's goal, Eichel extended his active point streak to six games.

With the game still tied at 1-1 as the second period commenced, the Sabres got a breakaway goal to give the team its first lead of the night. First-year Sabres forward Jimmy Vesey broke up a Lightning blue line pass less than two minutes into the period and sprung himself all alone on Vasilevskiy. Vesey was able to beat the Lightning goalie through the five-hole for his first goal as a member of the Sabres and his first goal since March 29, 2019 as a member of the New York Rangers.

Heading into Monday's contest, the Sabres' penalty killing unit had been on a major slump, allowing a power play goal in eight straight games.

Tampa Bay would make that nine straight games at the 7:20 mark of the period to tie the hockey game at 2-2. With forward Johan Larsson in the penalty box for a high-sticking minor, Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev blistered a wrist shot through a screen and off the post and in past Hutton for his second goal of the year.

Just over two-minutes later, Tampa Bay forward Yanni Gourde parked himself to the left of Hutton and was able to deflect a point shot from defenseman Ryan McDonagh past the Sabres netminder to give the Lightning a 3-2 advantage.

Buffalo was forced to start the third period playing shorthanded as Johan Larsson was pegged with a holding minor as time expired in the second period behind the Tampa Bay net.

Though the Sabres weathered the initial storm at the start the period, things got ugly just past the eight-minute mark.

With six-seconds remaining in a Tampa Bay power play, Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk took a tripping penalty to give the Sabres nearly two-full minutes of a man advantage opportunity. However, just after Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella exited the penalty box, Lightning forward Cedric Paquette was sprung for a shorthanded breakaway in behind the Buffalo defense and put a forehand shot over the blocker of Hutton.

Just 49-seconds later, Tampa Bay scored again while shorthanded as forwards Mathieu Joseph and Ondrej Palat got a chance 2-on-1 after Eichel failed to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Joseph fed a nice pass across to Palat, who tapped in the puck past the extended left leg of Hutton to make it a 5-2 game.

The Lightning nearly scored a sixth goal moments later at even strength as forward Anthony Cirelli thought he had scored his sixth goal of the year. However, officials deemed that Cirelli's skate made contact with Hutton, influencing the ability for the Sabres goalie to make a save, and the goal was disallowed. If the goal had stood, it would have been three goals allowed by the Sabres in a 2:07 span.

Cirelli's goal would not have not made a difference in the outcome as Tampa Bay held on to win its third game of the season in three tries this season against the Sabres.

Also of note from the loss, Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin left the ice in the second period after taking an elbow to the head from Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak. Dahlin immediately went down to the ice, cut open by the hit, and then left the playing surface and did not return. Cernak did not receive a penalty for the hit, and Dahlin was forced to sit out the rest of the night.

Cernak elbows Dahlin in the face. pic.twitter.com/kfTL2XbVan

Head coach Ralph Krueger confirmed following the loss that Dahlin suffered a concussion as a result of the hit.

Cernak will have a hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay's Erik Cernak will have a hearing Tuesday for Elbowing Buffalo's Rasmus Dahlin.

GAME SUMMARY

Goal Summary:

First Period:

BUF: 3:40 - Sam Reinhart (9) (Victor Olofsson, Jack Eichel)TBL: 0:13 - Nikita Kucherov (8) (Ondrej Palat)

Second Period:

BUF: 1:48 - Jimmy Vesey (1) (Unassisted)TBL: 7:20 - Mikhail Sergachev (2) PP (Ondrej Palat, Kevin Shattenkirk); 9:26 - Yanni Gourde (6) (Ryan McDonagh, Patrick Maroon)

Third Period:

BUF: NONETBL: 8:17 - Cedric Paquette (3) SH (Anthony Cirelli, Ryan McDonagh); 9:06 - Ondrej Palat (8) SH (Mathieu Joseph)

Penalty Summary:

First Period:

BUF: 16:02 - Carter Hutton (Tripping - 2 min.; served by Johan Larsson)TBL: NONE

Second Period:

BUF: 5:34 - Johan Larsson (High-sticking - 2 min.); 20:00 - Johan Larsson (Holding - 2 min.)TBL: 2:56 - Nikita Kucherov (High-sticking - 2 min.); 12:08 - Yanni Gourde (High-sticking - 2 min.)

Third Period:

BUF: 6:13 - Marco Scandella (Hooking - 2 min.)TBL: 8:07 - Kevin Shattenkirk (Tripping - 2 min.)

Shots on Goal:

BUF: 30 (11, 16, 3)TBL: 29 (9, 5, 15)

Goalies:

BUF: Carter Hutton - 24 savesTBL: Andrei Vasilevskiy - 28 saves

Power Plays:

BUF: 0 for 4 (0%)TBL: 1 for 4 (25%)

Three Stars:

1. Ondrej Palat - TBL
2. Ryan McDonagh - TBL
3. Cedric Paquette - TBL

What's Next:

The Sabres come home to host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show on WGR starting at 6 p.m. with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog from (716) Food and Sport.