The first of four regular-season matchups is in the books between the Buffalo Sabres and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Going into the game, the Sabres wanted to improve their home play and their power play. On Wednesday night, Buffalo was able to get a man-advantage tally, but it wasn't enough as Tampa Bay dominated the Sabres 8-3.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said after the loss that the team needs to play a complete game.
"We're beating ourselves." Dahlin said, "We're not playing full 60 [minutes] right now. It's not good."
The Lightning came out and scored the first four goals of the game. The goal scorers for Tampa were Scott Sabourin, John Carlson, Brandon Hagel, Yanni Gourde, and Nikita Kucherov. Hagel was heckled by Sabres fans all night, stemming from a March 8th altercation with Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin.
Josh Doan, Jason Zucker, and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres.
Buffalo finished 1 for 3 on the power play while Tampa was 2 for 4 on the night.
In the first period, the Sabres had two good early chances; Thompson fired one a few seconds in, and then Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 28 saves in the game, followed it up shortly after by stopping Zach Benson on a breakaway.
On the other end of the ice, Tampa had an early scoring chance, but a sprawling Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped Mayhem in front of the Buffalo net from turning into a goal. It was UPL's highlight of the night, as not many occurred between the Sabres pipes after that.
The Lightning would strike twice in the final moments of the opening period. First, with 1:11 left, Sabourin bangs in a rebound. Seconds later, Doan was sent to the penalty box for a delay of game. Tampa quickly capitalized on the man advantage: former Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson scored his 6th goal of the season for the Lightning, making it 2-0 Tampa.
In the second period, Tampa Bay jumped ahead 3-0; Hagel was in the right place out in front as he secured a blocked shot from the blue line and quickly fired it past UPL.
With 6:58 to go, Luukkonen was in the splits as Tampa had a beautiful cross-crease saucer pass that Gourde tapped in to make it 4-0 Tampa Bay. The Lightning scored on 4 of their first 12 shots.
The Sabres would finally get one on the man advantage with 4:06 to go in the second period; Doan redirected a nice Ryan McLeod pass, making it 4-1 Lightning. It was Doan's 4th goal of the season.
Buffalo wasn't done lighting the red lamp in their attempt at a comeback. With 27 seconds to go in the second period, the Sabres got within two. Noah Ostlund took a pass from Jack Quinn, turning a 2-on-1 into a tally; Zucker scored his 2nd goal in his 9th game of the season, putting it at 4-2 TBL.
In the third period, Thompson put an absolute rocket past Vasilevskiy, erupting KeyBank Center, but less than a minute later Tampa would regain their two-goal lead; Kucherov scored his 6th of the season on a backhand, making it 5-3 TBL. After the fifth goal, Buffalo pulled Luukkonen, who had just 9 saves on 14 shots; Colten Ellis replaced him, and it was all downhill for Buffalo as a team from there.
The change in net didn't help as the Lightning added on to their lead with 15:49 to go; Kucherov put in his second of the night, and Carlson tallied his 4th point.
Tampa sent many Sabres fans home early with 5:47 left in the game as the Lightning extended their lead on the power play. Kucherov capped off his night with a hat trick, scoring his 8th goal of the season. Carlson and Jake Guentzel were credited with assists.
Seconds later, Buffalo gave up its 8th goal of the night as Hagel scored his second of the game, assisted by Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli.
Carlson led the Lightning with 5 points; Kucherov had 4 points, and Guentzel had 4 assists.
The Sabres are now 8-7-3 on the season and 4-6 at home.
Ruff concluded his press conference by walking off in the middle of his statement, saying, "We weren't good as a group. I'm moving on. We're playing Chicago tomorrow."
Next up: Buffalo starts a six-game road trip on Thursday night in Chicago.
