It was a memorable night for Nikita Kucherov, who had a three-point game and essentially wrapped up his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy. Nathan MacKinnon’s regular season is over, and third-place Leon Draisaitl trails Kucherov by 13 points.
But Kucherov wasn’t the only Lightning player to enjoy a memorable evening. Emil Lilleberg netted his first NHL goal. Jake Guentzel reached 40 goals for the third time in his career. And Conor Geekie scored in his first game back with the Lightning after being recalled from Syracuse.
With the victory, the Lightning re-established a two-point lead over Florida. Both clubs have just two games left in the regular season. The regulation win gave the Lightning 40 on the season; Florida has 37. So if the teams finished the regular season tied in points, the Lightning will win the tiebreaker.
Heading into this game, the Lightning had not played well defensively over the past few contests. Their standard didn’t improve in a loose and leaky first period. They yielded several dangerous chances, including two to Tage Thompson from the slot. The Sabres hit two posts as well. Still, with less than 30 seconds left in the period, the Lightning held a 1-0 lead. Then they allowed goals within a 15-second span. On both plays, the Lightning lost the puck in the defensive zone and allowed an open look in front of the net. On the second of those goals, two Sabres were wide open in front.
But the Lightning regrouped during the first intermission. In the final 40 minutes, they competed and defended at a higher level. They held a possession advantage and dictated play. They limited Buffalo’s looks from high-danger areas of the ice. They created numerous scoring chances and converted on six of those. Four of those goals came in the second period. After Ryan McDonagh’s snapshot from the high slot tied the game at 3:02, Kucherov took over the scoring lead when he finished a rush chance by following up his initial shot (which hit the crossbar) to stuff it in at 6:34. Geekie recorded three consecutive shots from the slot, converting on the third of those at 14:21. Lilleberg’s shot from the point sailed past the glove of James Reimer at 16:45.
Kucherov and Guentzel added third-period goals. The Sabres tallied two of their own, but they were unable to produce as many Grade-A chances as they’d generated in the first. Overall, the last two periods were strong defensive ones for the Lightning. In the third, they allowed a five-on-three power-play goal to Alex Tuch and a Sam Lafferty goal off a set play with less than two minutes remaining.
Unfortunately, the Lightning weren’t able to get through this game injury-free, as Darren Raddysh left in the second period and didn’t return.
Florida hosts the Rangers tomorrow before facing the Lightning on Tuesday in Tampa Bay’s regular-season home finale.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Braydon Coburn):
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Two goals and assist.
- Jake Guentzel — Lightning. Two goals.
- Emil Lilleberg — Lightning. First NHL goal.
