The Backcheck: Dynamic second-period offense gives Bolts Sunday win over Sabres

The first period of Sunday’s Eastern Conference NHL contest between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres wasn’t the best for the home team at AMALIE Arena, but the final 40 minutes wrote a different story.

The NHL’s leading scorer made an all-world play in the second period, one that tilted a 7-4 victory for the Lightning over the Sabres.

Nikita Kucherov’s league-leading 117th point of the 2024-25 campaign was worth a highlight reel. Kucherov accepted a bank pass from Victor Hedman near center ice with one hand and tapped the puck through Buffalo forward Alex Tuch to create a rush into the Buffalo zone.

Kucherov’s ensuing shot slammed into the crossbar before hitting Sabres goalie James Reimer in the back, but Kucherov followed up to slam home the rebound in the blue paint for a 3-2 lead six minutes, 34 seconds into the second period.

“It’s game 80, and Kuch showed a lot of emotion when he scored,” coach Jon Cooper said of the goal. “The guys know what’s at stake for him as well. You get down to this time of year and it’s all about the team, but there’s some individual accomplishments that can go down…It was great to see, but I think guys also fed off the emotion of Kuch.”

Kucherov finished with three points and now leads the NHL with 119 points.

Kucherov’s lead-changing goal was the second of four Lightning markers in the second period as Tampa Bay built a 5-2 lead.

Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh tied the game 2-2 with his shot from the left circle 3:02 into the period before Kucherov’s goal, and a pair of Lightning youngsters added goals to cap an eventful middle frame.

Rookie forward Conor Geekie made his presence felt in his first game back with the Lightning since Feb. 1, pushing the lead to 4-2 with 5:39 left in the second period. Geekie’s initial shot was saved by Reimer, but the rebound flew through the air back to Geekie in the high slot, where the 20-year-old buried his seventh goal of the season.

“I think definitely more complete, I would say,” Geekie said of his game since his last NHL appearance. “I had a lot of stuff to learn, and I think that’s what Syracuse did for me. It ended up working out tonight, so hopefully keep it going.”

Defenseman Emil Lilleberg's first career NHL goal made it 5-2. Lilleberg’s shot from the left point evaded Reimer on the glove side with 3:15 remaining in the period.

“So happy for him,” Anthony Cirelli said of Lilleberg. “He’s a guy that plays so hard every shift and makes those big hits, he’s hard to play against, he’s sticking up for guys, he’s always fighting. So to see him get on the scoresheet is huge for him and huge for us.”

Lilleberg was all smiles postgame after his first career goal, one that tied him with Patrick Thoreson for the third-most points (24) by a Norwegian-born player in NHL history.

“Everybody was so happy and everybody was enjoying it,” he said, “So it was really cool to get that first goal.”

The Bolts’ second-period offense followed a bizarre first period, one in which the teams combined for three goals in the final 3:25 of play.

Jake Guentzel got the home team going with his 39th goal of the season 16:35 into the game to overcome a slow start by the team.

Guentzel forced a Buffalo turnover at the left wall and passed to Cirelli in the high slot. Cirelli shook a Sabres defender with a cutback move to the top of the left faceoff circle, and the rebound fell to Guentzel at the left post for a 1-0 lead.

The Sabres didn’t let Tampa Bay stay ahead for long, as Buffalo scored two goals near the Lightning net in the final 23 seconds of the period to steal a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes.

After being outshot 11-5 in the first period, Tampa Bay responded with the four-goal second period onslaught that included a 15-7 advantage in shots on goal.

“To be honest, probably the right team was winning after the first period,” Cooper said.

“But we came in, the coaches did a great job, a couple adjustments were made. The guys knew what was at stake today, and I thought they really had an outstanding second period. Probably a good sign for a team to give up two in the last minute, which is a No No, but make sure you come out in the second and play the way we did. That was probably the difference in the game.”

Kucherov’s second goal of the night was a complete effort, as he intercepted a Sabres pass in the offensive zone and ripped his shot past Reimer 2:39 into the third period to give Tampa Bay a 6-2 lead.

An Alex Tuch redirection at the left post on a Sabres 5-on-3 power play pulled the score to 6-3 midway through the third period. Guentzel added his 40th goal of the season on a Tampa Bay power play to make it 7-3 with 6:48 remaining, and Buffalo closed the scoring with a late goal.

Lightning goalie Jonas Johansson finished with 21 saves for his ninth win of the season.

"We want to be fast-paced, a hard team to play against,” Cirelli said. “I think we're best when we're getting pucks in deep, we're keeping it simple. So it was nice to build off that second. Obviously I didn't like the first too much, but I thought for the rest of the game we kind of stuck with that.”

Tampa Bay is now 46-26-8, two standings points ahead of the Florida Panthers (47-29-4). That sets up a key final home game of the 2024-25 regular season, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against the Panthers.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (2 Goals, Assist)

2. Jake Guentzel, TBL (2 Goals)

3. Brandon Hagel, TBL (3 Assists)