Norris scores twice, Sabres cruise past Lightning

TAMPA -- Josh Norris scored twice to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.

Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and two assists, Zach Metsa tallied a goal and an assist, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 36 saves for the Sabres (35-19-6), who beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Friday night and have won three straight.

"This shows that we're a really good team," Norris said. "We've known that for a while now. We just have a lot of belief in ourselves right now. It's a lot of fun playing and it was just a really good effort tonight."

Dominic James scored and Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (38-16-4), who have lost two in a row after they had won their previous six games. Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up five goals on 14 shots before he was pulled at 1:54 of the second period in favor of Jonas Johansson, who made 20 saves in relief.

"It's really disappointing actually, you know, being 50-plus games in and putting ourselves in this position to come out and play like this," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "No push back, no urgency, no drive, no attention to detail. We just gave up a decently skilled team so much open ice. I'm surprised they didn't have 10. I'm really disappointed with our compete level."

Dahlin gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 5:25 of the first period when he took control of the puck and skated to the middle of the ice, where he notched a wrist shot that beat Vasilevskiy to the far post.

"We came out really hard, we made the right plays and I think we played the right way," Dahlin said. "We played so fast. Maybe they weren't ready or we just took it to another level, which was unreal. It was fun."

Just 50 seconds later, Norris pushed it 2-0 at 6:15 when he took a pass from Josh Doan at the right circle and faked a cross-ice pass before beating Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot to the far post.

The Sabres extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:18 with Norris' second goal, a redirection from in front of the net off a slap shot from Bowen Byram.

"Obviously, we played last night, so we wanted to get off to a good start," Norris said. "I thought we really played a good road game."

Tage Thompson made it 4-0 at 15:06 when he took a backhand pass from Peyton Krebs and scored on the forehand from close range.

Metsa pushed the Buffalo lead to 5-0 at 1:54 of the second period after he intercepted a clearing attempt by Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli and scored on a wrist shot from above the hashmarks that beat Vasilevskiy on the stick side.

"I'm never really chasing it, I just try not to and I feel like I get in trouble when I do," Metsa said. "I'm just trying to play the right way and good things have always happened for me. Tonight was one of those nights."

James put the Lightning on the board 5-1 at 16:03. Mattias Samuelsson's clearing attempt off the left boards was intercepted by Hedman, who passed to Oliver Bjorkstrand in the slot. Bjorkstrand fed James, who beat his man out of the corner to get the wrist shot off.

"We're a proud group and we know what works for us," Hedman said. "We've just got to get back to that, have a good practice on Monday and get back to our habits and get everyone together to make sure we're ready to go on Tuesday (at the Minnesota Wild)."

Alex Tuch made it 6-1 at 3:43 of the third period with a power-play goal. Tuch's wrist shot from the point was helped by center Ryan McLeod providing the screen in front of Johansson.

Hedman made it 6-2 at 5:27 with his first goal of the season, a slap shot from above the left circle.

James exited the game with 2:48 left following a hit from Michael Kesselring against the boards. Kesselring was issued a cross-checking minor penalty for the hit, and Cooper had no additional updates on James following the game.

"I thought we got off to a great start, skated really well, moved the puck well, supported the puck well coming out of the zone that led to a lot of good opportunities," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought tonight we made some good plays and then we put them in the back of the net."

NOTES: Thompson has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a seven-game point streak. ... Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had his 12-game point streak (eight goals, 20 assists) snapped. ... Sabres forward Zach Benson had a secondary assist in his return to the lineup after missing the previous four games. ... Cooper had no additional update on Gage Goncalves, who left the game early in the second period.