Tampa, Fla. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres earned a mid-week split of the state of Florida.
Following a 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, the Sabres responded with a 3-2 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at Amalie Arena.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring on a power play about eight minutes into the affair. With Jordan Greenway in the penalty box, Lightning forward Brayden Point deked Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for his 31st goal of the season.
The Sabres had a quick answer, though, and tied things up less than three minutes later. Alex Tuch cashed in on a Tampa Bay turnover and posted his 17th goal of the campaign.
Late in the second period, Tampa Bay took another lead on a busted play. The puck was not the Sabres' friend, as the misfortune resulted in the third goal of the season for forward Mitchell Chaffee.
The Sabres were held in check until the midway point of the third period.
With Point in the penalty box for a high-sticking minor and Tampa Bay on the penalty kill, Sabres center Tage Thompson salvaged, what was, a messy power play with a patented snipe for goal No. 18 of the 2023-24 season.
The game remained tied at 2-2 through the rest of regulation, resulting in some free hockey for the fans in Tampa Bay. In the overtime period, Thompson broke free and was hooked by forward Nikita Kucherov to draw a penalty.
From there, it only took Casey Mittelstadt 24 seconds on the man advantage to locate Rasmus Dahlin hanging by the back door of the Lightning net for the game-winning tap-in tally.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 10:59 - Alex Tuch (17) (Unassisted)
TBL: 8:12 - Brayden Point (31) PPG (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
TBL: 17:18 - Mitchell Chaffee (3) (Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli)
Third Period:
BUF: 11:33 - Tage Thompson (18) PPG (Rasmus Dahlin)
TBL: NONE
Overtime:
BUF: 1:42 - Rasmus Dahlin (15) PPG (Casey Mittelstadt, Jordan Greenway)
TBL: NONE
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
2.) Mitchell Chaffee - TBL
3.) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres return home to host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night at KeyBank Center in Downtown Buffalo. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST with Brian Koziol and Paul Hamilton.