Tampa, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres had the Tampa Bay Lightning teetering on the ropes late in the second period on Thursday night. Leading 5-3 at that point, the Sabres coughed up three-consecutive goals and dropped its fifth-straight game, 6-5, at Amalie Arena.
No goalie was safe in the early goings, as in a span of just 52 seconds, the two sides netted three goals.
Tampa Bay's Nick Paul opened the scoring 5:01 into the first period, benefitting from a deflection off the stick of Sabres defenseman Connor Clifton.
16 seconds later, Rasmus Dahlin knotted things up with a nice wrist shot past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
It was Dahlin's 11th goal of the season.
Unfortunately for the Sabres, it took Tampa Bay all of 36 seconds to get the lead back. A wild bounce off a point shot from Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh went off Bowen Byram and eludedgoalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
The Sabres eventually evened the score once more after Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg fanned on a pass at his blue line, leading to a chance the other way for Sabres winger Alex Tuch.
Skating down with Jordan Greenway on a 2-on-1 rush, Tuch kept the puck and fired his 24th goal of the season past Vasilevskiy.
With just under three minutes left in the opening frame, Buffalo took its first lead of the contest. After a neutral zone turnover, Tampa's defensive pairing of JJ Moser and Ryan McDonagh got tangled up, allowing Ryan McLeod to link up with Peyton Krebs for the forward's fifth goal of the 2024-25 campaign.
It took less than a minute into the second period for the Lightning to tie the game at 3-3. Forward Jake Guentzel snuck behind the defense and batted home his 30th goal of the season.
Towards the midway point of the stanza, Tage Thompson struck gold for Buffalo. The forward drew a tripping penalty out of winger Gage Goncalves, and moments later, picked the top-corner from his office for his second goal in as many games.
Three minutes later, JJ Peterka turned a nifty play into the game's first multi-goal lead for either side. Peterka stole the puck from Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and fired a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy for his 19th goal of the year.
From that moment on, though, the rest of the second period belonged to the Lightning, specifically Guentzel. The first-year Lightning forward added two more goals to complete a hat-trick, all within the 20 minute segment.
The Lightning made it three-straight goals just 100 seconds into the third period. The team's latest acquisition, forward Oliver Bjorkstrand, netted his first goal with Tampa Bay on a rebound off Luukkonen.
Bjorkstrand's goal proved to be the eventual game-winner.
Vasilevskiy hunkered down for the Lightning, steering away the rest of Buffalo's opportunities the rest of the night. Included in those chances were a 6-on-4 advantage inside the final two minutes of regulation, and a 6-on-3 for the last 17 seconds of the contest.
Buffalo's latest winless streak has now reached five games.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 5:17 - Rasmus Dahlin (11) (Ryan McLeod, Zach Benson); 8:20 - Alex Tuch (24) (Unassisted); 17:09 - Peyton Krebs (5) (Ryan McLeod, Zach Benson)
TBL: 5:01 - Nick Paul (19) (Ryan McDonagh, Brandon Hagel); 5:53 - Darren Raddysh (4) (Zemgus Girgensons)
Second Period:
BUF: 9:35 - Tage Thompson (31) PPG (Rasmus Dahlin, JJ Peterka); 12:40 - JJ Peterka (19) (Unassisted)
TBL: 0:58 - Jake Guentzel (30) (Erik Cernak, Nikita Kucherov); 17:43 - Jake Guentzel (31) (Brayden Point, Nick Paul); 18:46 - Jake Guentzel (32) PPG (Brandon Hagel, Darren Raddysh)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
TBL: 1:40 - Oliver Bjorkstrand (17) (Yanni Gourde, Nikita Kucherov)
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Jake Guentzel - TBL
2.) Oliver Bjorkstrand - TBL
3.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres will remain in Florida for a date with the Panthers on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.