BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Tuesday, Feb. 21
Toronto 6 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Quinn, Tuch, Skinner
Goalies: Luukkonen (6 saves/10 shots); Anderson (17 saves/18 shots); 1 ENG
PP: 0/1; PK: 1/2; Shots: Buffalo 32 – Toronto 29
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 103)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Kale Clague (lower body, Feb. 21) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Feb. 24: Buffalo at Florida, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 26: Washington at Buffalo, 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 28: Columbus at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 2: Buffalo at Boston, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 4: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SABRES AT LIGHTNING
• This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
• Last meeting: Tampa Bay defeated Buffalo 6-5 (OT) in Buffalo on Nov. 28, 2022.
• Next meeting: Saturday, March 4 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 1-7-2 in their last 10 games against the Lightning; 1-8-1 on the road.
• This is the 112th game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 56-45-10 series record.
• The Sabres are 29-23-4 on the road against the Lightning all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Dylan Cozens has tallied 37 points (16+21) in his last 37 games, including five points (3+2) in his last five games.
• Cozens needs one point to reach 100 in his career.
• Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 43 points (7+36) in his last 40 games, including 12 points (1+11) in his last 12 games.
• A point in tonight’s game would give Dahlin his fifth point streak of four or more games in 2022-23.
• Dahlin’s current three-game point streak is his eighth of the season, making him just the second defenseman in franchise history to record eight or more point streaks of three or more games in the same season. Phil Housley recorded 10 such streaks in 1983-84. Jason Pominville (nine in 2011-12) was the last Sabres skater to record eight or more point streaks of three or more games in a single season.
• In his last five games, Casey Mittelstadt has tallied six points (2+4).
• Alex Tuch has notched 16 points (7+9) in his last 14 games, including a goal and an assist in each of his last three games.
• With a point in tonight’s game, Tuch would earn his fifth point streak of four or more games in 2022-23.
• A goal in tonight’s game would mark Tuch’s second four-game goal streak in 2022-23.
• In his last 15 games dating back to Jan. 10, Peyton Krebs, at 5-on-5, has been at or above 50 percent in on-ice corsi for percentage 14 times and at or above on-ice expected-goals percentage 11 times.
• Tage Thompson has recorded 21 points (9+12) in his last 20 games.
• A point in tonight’s game would give Thompson a four-game point streak, which would mark the fifth time this season he has notched a point streak of four or more games.
• In his last 34 games, Jeff Skinner has notched 40 points (17+23).
• With a point tonight, Skinner will have recorded his fourth point streak of four or more games this season.
DOWN BY THE BAY
• Tage Thompson has notched seven points (3+4) in his last seven games against Tampa Bay, including three points (1+2) in two games against the Lightning this season.
• In addition to Thompson, Dylan Cozens (1+1), Zemgus Girgensons (1+1), Jeff Skinner (2+0) and Alex Tuch (0+2) all have a point in both games against Tampa Bay this season.
• In 27 games against the Lightning in his career, Craig Anderson has recorded a save percentage of .915 and a goals-against average of 2.63.
• Owen Power recorded three assists in two career games against the Lightning, including at least one assist in both contests.
BACK-TO-BACK
Today’s game opens up Buffalo’s 10th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, which will conclude tomorrow night at Florida. The Sabres are 4-4-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 2-6-1 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets this season is: four points (2), three points (0), two points (2), one point (2) and zero points (3).
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 6 vs. Anaheim 1
The Tampa Bay Lightning extended their franchise record home point streak to 15 games with a 6-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts swept the season series with ANA after a 4-2 win Oct. 26 at Honda Center…Tampa Bay improved to 36-17-3 on the season with a home record of 22-4-2…After a scoreless first period, Nick Paul opened the scoring at the 7:15 mark of the second when he collected a pass from Nick Perbix and barreled into the ANA zone before beating Lukas Dostal for his 17th goal of the season, a new career high…After Cam Fowler was whistled for tripping, the Lightning doubled their lead with a power-play goal from Ross Colton, who hammered a one-timer past Dostal off a pass from Mikhail Sergachev with Alex Killorn recording the secondary assist at the 9:48 mark of the second…Just 1:03 later, Anthony Cirelli took a pass from Perbix and made a move to his backhand before beating Dostal to make it a 3-0 game with Killorn picking up another secondary helper…Zach Bogosian gave the Bolts a 4-0 lead 2:19 later when he took a pass from Pat Maroon and fired a slap shot into the back of the net with Colton recording the secondary assist…Tampa Bay outshot ANA 22-1 in the second period, marking the seventh time across the NHL this season that a team has recorded a shot differential of 21 or more in a single period…Brayden Point scored his team-leading 33rd goal of the season and his 200th career goal to make it a 5-0 game with a power-play tally 1:06 into the third as Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel picked up the assists…Corey Perry gave the Lightning a 6-0 lead 1:17 later with a redirection off a pass from Vladislav Namestnikov that went top shelf as Perbix recorded his third assist of the night with the secondary helper…Ryan Strome got ANA on the board with 13:32 left in regulation, the final goal of the contest…Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves on 25 shots against for his 12th-straight win on home ice…Every skater on the Tampa Bay roster recorded at least one shot on goal.
PP: TBL – 2-5 ANA – 0-4
SOG: TBL – 44 ANA – 25
Attendance: 19,092
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Sabres are playing the third of four matchups this season and the second of two meetings at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts are 2-0-0 against BUF this season with a 5-3 win Nov. 5 at AMALIE Arena and a 6-5 overtime win Nov. 28 at KeyBank Center…Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning with seven points in the two games vs. BUF this season (1-6—7)…Brayden Point leads Tampa Bay with three goals vs. BUF this season (3-1—4)…Brian Elliott has started both games vs. BUF this season and posted a 2-0-0 record with 53 saves on 61 shots against…Kucherov is riding an 11-game point streak vs. BUF (10-11—21) and has pointed in 20 of the last 21 meetings (14-18—32)…Kucherov has recorded at least one point in 10 straight home games vs. BUF (7-8—15)…Steven Stamkos has picked up points in four straight games vs. BUF (3-5—8)…Point has found the scoresheet in four consecutive games vs. BUF (3-3—6)…Brandon Hagel has scored a goal in all three of his career games vs. BUF (3-3—6)…Alex Killorn has recorded eight points over his last six games vs. BUF (3-5—8)…Anthony Cirelli has picked up points in five of his last six games vs. BUF (2-5—7)…Nick Paul has recorded a point in all three games vs. BUF since being acquired by the Lightning last season (1-2—3)…Victor Hedman has picked up nine points over his last 10 games vs. BUF (3-6—9)…Andrei Vasilevskiy has won six consecutive starts vs. BUF with a .906 save percentage and 2.47 goals against average…In 14 career games vs. BUF, Vasilevskiy is 12-1-1 with a .935 SV%, 1.77 GAA, two shutouts and one assist…In 27 career games vs. BUF, Elliott is 20-4-2 with a .931 SV%, 2.02 GAA and five shutouts…The Bolts have won seven consecutive home games vs. BUF…The Lightning are 9-0-1 in their last 10 home games vs. BUF and 9-1-0 in the last 10 meetings overall…Tampa Bay has scored five or more goals in four consecutive games vs. BUF and seven of the last eight meetings…The Bolts penalty kill is operating at 94.1% over the last 13 games vs. BUF…The Lightning have scored four or more goals in eight of the last 10 games vs. BUF…The Bolts are 50-48-8 with five ties all-time vs. BUF, including a home record of 24-24-5 with three ties…Stamkos (21-23—44) holds the Tampa Bay franchise records for career goals and points vs. BUF.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. BUF
- Steven Stamkos – 44 pts. (21-23—44, 47 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 40 pts. (15-25—40, 47 GP)
T3. Nikita Kucherov – 38 pts. (17-21—38, 30 GP)
T3. Vincent Lecavalier – 38 pts. (19-19—38, 49 GP) - Alex Killorn – 27 pts. (9-18—27, 37 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the second game of a brief, two-game homestand tonight…The Bolts will play just five of their 12 games in February on home ice…The Lightning are 9-6-0 against Atlantic Division opponents and 16-10-1 against the Eastern Conference this season…The Bolts are 22-4-2 on home ice this season and are riding a franchise record 15-game home point streak…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in nine consecutive home games and 24 of their 28 games at AMALIE Arena this season…The Lightning have scored a power-play goal in eight of their last nine home games…The Bolts penalty kill is 16-for-16 over the last five contests.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 95
Current Injuries:
None
TRANSACTIONS
Jan. 30 – Recalled D Nick Perbix from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 30 – Re-assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 29 – Assigned D Nick Perbix to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 29 – Recalled F Rudolfs Balcers from AHL Syracuse
