Tampa Bay 6, Buffalo 4
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York
Referees:
Jake Brenk, Kendrick Nicholson
Linesmen:
Derek Amell, David Brisebois
Attendance:
18465
By Field Level Media
Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn had three-point games to fuel Tampa Bay's big rally on Tuesday, helping the Lightning to a 6-4 win and season sweep of the host Buffalo Sabres.
Down 4-1 in the second period, the Lightning scored five unanswered goals to win their season-high fourth straight and improve to 23-4-2 over the Sabres since the 2013-14 season.
Killorn tallied twice and assisted on a goal, Johnson had a goal and two assists, and Ondrej Palat and Anthony Cirelli each posted a goal and an assist.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored the other goal Tampa Bay, which won its 12th straight over Atlantic Division competition and swept all four games from the Sabres this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded 24 saves.
Conor Sheary notched a goal and two assists and Marcus Johansson, Jimmy Vesey and Jack Eichel each added a goal for the Sabres, who lost their fourth consecutive game. Linus Ullmark made 21 saves.
Playing their second game without injured Jeff Skinner, the Sabres scored late in the first period when Ryan McDonagh tried to clear a pass out of the defensive zone, but Curtis Lazar raced in, intercepted the puck right at the blue line and fed Sheary, who one-timed home his sixth goal of the season from the right dot at 19:03.
The Sabres pushed their advantage to two goals at 2:12 of the second when Johansson tallied his sixth of the season from a shot on the wide side of the right circle.
Buffalo killed off a five-on-three power play, but the Lightning scored with just eight seconds remaining in the single-man advantage on Palat's 12th of the season at 7:00, but a dazzling spinning pass in the slot by Johansson led to Vesey's fifth goal of the season at 8:12 in the second to make it 3-1.
Eichel's team-leading 25th marker at 9:56 that boosted Buffalo to a three-goal lead was simply outstanding.
With the Sabres killing another penalty, Eichel skated in on Shattenkirk, toe-dragged past the defenseman and flipped a backhander over Vasilevskiy for the Buffalo captain's first career short-handed tally.
But Killorn collected his 14th goal of the season on the power play, and Johnson beat Ullmark on a breakaway to clip the Lightning's deficit to 4-3 after two.
Shattenkirk completed the three-goal comeback in the third when his shot in the slot bounced off Johansson and into the net to tie it at 4 at 6:20, and Killorn's second goal of the game at 8:08 gave the Lightning their first lead.
Cirelli scored into an empty net in the final seconds to clinch the win.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Tampa Bay |
|
Buffalo |
|
Alex Killorn 3 |
Points |
Conor Sheary 3 |
|
Alex Killorn 2 |
Goals |
Conor Sheary 1 |
|
Tyler Johnson 2 |
Assists |
Conor Sheary 2 |
|
Alex Killorn 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
Jack Eichel 1 |
|
Andrei Vasilevskiy .857 |
Save Percentage |
Linus Ullmark .808 |
|
Andrei Vasilevskiy 24 |
Saves |
Linus Ullmark 21 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Tampa Bay
|
27 |
6 |
2-5 |
4-4 |
15 |
23 |
| Buffalo
|
28 |
4 |
0-4 |
3-5 |
27 |
28 |
Upcoming Games
-
Buffalo will play their next game at home against Edmonton. The Sabres have a W/L % of .444 after a win and .391 after a loss.
-
Tampa Bay will play their next game on the road against Montreal. The Lightning have a W/L % of .450 after a win and .667 after a loss.
For more information, contact us