Lightning pull away from Sabres with 4 goals in 2nd

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who gained ground in the Atlantic Division with a 7-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

Kucherov has 119 points (36 goals, 83 assists) in 76 games this season, moving three ahead of Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon, who is out with an undisclosed injury, for the NHL lead.

The Lightning moved two points ahead of the Florida Panthers for second in the Atlantic with two games remaining. They also remained four points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, who won 4-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes earlier on Sunday, for first.

"The guys knew what was at stake today and I thought we had a really outstanding second period," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "It's a good sign for a team to give up two in the last minute (of the first period), which is a no-no, and come out in the second the way we did. That was probably the difference in the game."

Jake Guentzel scored twice, and Brandon Hagel had three assists for the Lightning (46-26-8), who had lost four of five (1-1-3). Jonas Johansson made 21 saves.

Jiri Kulich, Alex Tuch, Connor Clifton and Sam Lafferty scored for the Sabres (35-38-7), who have lost three straight (0-2-1). James Reimer made 24 saves.

"I thought we lost puck battles, got on the wrong side of the puck, and poor defense led to goals against," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "They beat us to pucks, and their sustained O-zone time sometimes led to great opportunities and we couldn't get people off the ice."

Guentzel put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0 at 16:35 of the first period, knocking in a loose puck at the left post after Anthony Cirelli's initial shot hit Hagel at the top of the crease.

"We're in a fight right now for points and placement, so two points is huge," Cirelli said. "As the game went along we got a little bit better. Obviously, we don't want to be giving up four ... that's too many."

Kulich tied the game 1-1 at 19:37, tapping the puck past Johansson's right pad after Tage Thompson's turnaround shot deflected through the crease.

Clifton scored his first goal of the season 15 seconds later to put the Sabres ahead 2-1. Jack Quinn cut between two defenders in the right circle, made another move around Nick Paul in the low slot, and sent a cross-crease pass from his knees to Clifton, who tapped the puck in at the right post.

"[Quinn's play] was awesome, it was beautiful," Clifton said. "A good little move by him. Two quick goals and we've got a lot of momentum at the first intermission, and then we come out in the second and we're flat. Next thing you know goals start going in."

Ryan McDonagh tied the game 2-2 at 3:02 of the second period with a one-timer from above the circles off a pass by Hagel.

Kucherov put the Lightning in front 3-2 at 6:34. He made a move around Tuch at center ice, skated to the edge of the right circle, and scored on his own rebound after his initial shot hit the crossbar and the back of Reimer's skate.

"It's game 80 and 'Kuch' ... he showed a lot of emotion when he scored and I think the guys ... they knew what was at stake for him as well," Cooper said. "When you get down to this time of year it's all about the team, but there's some individual accomplishments that can go down. It was great to see the guys kind of feed off the emotion."

Conor Geekie, who was recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, made it 4-2 at 14:21. He scored five-hole from the right hash marks after Reimer made the save on his initial shot.

"I had a few chances early on, but seeing it go in makes you feel better, but there's still a long road ahead," Geekie said. "I had a lot of stuff to learn, and that's what Syracuse did for me. It ended up working out tonight, so hopefully I can keep it going."

Emil Lilleberg extended the lead to 5-2 at 16:45, scoring glove side with a one-timer from the left point. It was his first NHL goal (111th career game).

"That was really huge for me to do that. It was really fun," Lilleberg said. "Everybody was so happy on the line. I do my job in the D-zone and it's always fun to score goals."

Cirelli said: "We're so happy for him. He's a guy who plays so hard every shift. He makes those big hits, he is sticking up for guys and he's always fighting. To see him get on the score sheet is huge for him and huge for us. We're very happy for him."

Kucherov made it 6-2 at 2:39 of the third period. He intercepted a pass from Ryan McLeod in the low slot and roofed a wrist shot over Reimer's glove.

"I didn't think we had a great start to the game, but we responded with two quick goals and we've got the lead on the road," Clifton said. "And we come out in the second and we hand them the game. Then we're chasing and we're in some trouble."

Tuch made it 6-3 at 8:39 during a 5-on-3 power play, but Guentzel scored his 40th goal of the season on a Lightning power play at 13:12 to make it 7-3.

Lafferty scored at 18:23 for the 7-4 final.

"We just didn't play as we should. We weren't getting pucks deep and we didn't make plays at the blue line," Sabres forward Peyton Krebs said. "They capitalized. ... Their big dogs made plays."

NOTES: Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh left the game in the second period. There was no update. ... Guentzel's 40 goals are tied for his NHL career high. ... Tuch has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past 10 games. ... Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin had two assists and has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past seven games. ... Hagel has eight points (one goal, seven assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Lightning forward Gage Goncalves had two assists and has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games.