TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 4 vs. Pittsburgh 5 (OT)
The Tampa Bay Lightning dropped a third-straight contest with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins March 2 at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts fell to 37-19-5 on the season with a home record of 22-5-4…The Lightning concluded the season series vs. PIT with an 0-2-1 record…Ross Colton opened the scoring at the 5:39 mark of the first period when a shot from Tanner Jeannot deflected off Kris Letang and ricocheted off Colton for his 14th goal of the season with Mikhail Sergachev picking up the secondary helper…Jeannot’s assist was his first point as a member of the Bolts…Jeff Petry scored back-to-back goals at the 6:06 and 6:31 marks of the second period to give PIT a 2-1 lead…Brayden Point scored his team-leading 38th goal of the season when he banged home a rebound in front of Tristan Jarry on the power play to tie the game at two with 10:21 remaining in the second…Jason Zucker gave PIT a 3-2 lead with 4:54 remaining in the middle frame…Steven Stamkos got the game tied once again when he fired a shot over the glove of Jarry 38 seconds into the third for his 27th goal of the season, a power-play goal, with Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy picking up the assists…Drew O’Connor gave PIT the lead once again with 13:01 remaining in regulation…With 4:10 remaining in the third, Stamkos made a move around Sidney Crosby at the PIT blue line before feeding Victor Hedman, who beat Jarry to tie the game at four with his sixth goal of the season…Zucker scored at the 2:13 mark of overtime to give PIT the 5-4 win…Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 32 shots.
PP: TBL – 2-5 PIT – 0-5
SOG: TBL – 31 PIT – 32
Attendance: 19,092
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Sabres are playing the fourth of four matchups this season and the second of two meetings at KeyBank Center…The Bolts are 2-0-1 against BUF this season with a 5-3 win Nov. 5 at AMALIE Arena, a 6-5 overtime win Nov. 28 at KeyBank Center and a 6-5 overtime loss Feb. 23 at AMALIE Arena…Brayden Point (4-4—8) leads Tampa Bay in goals vs. BUF this season and is tied with Nikita Kucherov (1-7—8) for the team lead in points…Kucherov is riding a 12-game point streak vs. BUF (10-12-22) and has points in five straight contests at BUF (5-6—11)…Kucherov has points in 14 of his 15 career games at BUF (10-13—23)…Kucherov has points in 21 of his last 22 games vs. BUF (14-19—33)…Point is riding a five-game point streak vs. BUF (4-6—10) with goals and multiple points in three straight…Steven Stamkos has picked up points in five consecutive games vs. BUF (4-6—10) and 10 of the last 12 meetings (6-10—16)…Stamkos has pointed in five of his last six contests at BUF (4-6—10)…Brandon Hagel has picked up points in each of his four career games vs. BUF (3-4—7)…Alex Killorn has found the scoresheet in seven consecutive contests at BUF (4-7—11)…Anthony Cirelli has points in six of his last seven games vs. BUF (3-5—8)…Corey Perry has recorded points in six of his last eight games at BUF (7-2—9)…Victor Hedman has points in four of his last five contests vs. BUF (1-5—6)…The Lightning are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games at BUF and 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings overall…The Bolts are 50-48-9 with five ties all-time vs. BUF, including a road record of 26-24-3 with two ties…Stamkos (22-24—46) holds the Lightning franchise records for career goals and points vs. BUF.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. BUF
- Steven Stamkos – 46 pts. (22-24—46, 48 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 40 pts. (15-25—40, 47 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 39 pts. (17-22—39, 31 GP)
- Vincent Lecavalier – 38 pts. (19-19—38, 49 GP)
T5. Alex Killorn – 27 pts. (9-18—27, 38 GP)
T5. Victor Hedman – 27 pts. (8-19—27, 49 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the first game of a two-game road trip tonight…The Bolts will play eight of their 16 games in March on the road…The Lightning are 10-7-1 against Atlantic Division opponents and 17-12-3 against the Eastern Conference this season…Tampa Bay is 8-3-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets this season…The Bolts are 15-14-1 on the road this season…The Lightning have scored three or more goals in 10 of their last 12 road games (36 total)…Tampa Bay has scored a power-play goal in six of their last seven contests.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 95
Current Injuries:
None
TRANSACTIONS
March 3 – Re-assigned D Darren Raddysh to AHL Syracuse
March 2 – Recalled D Darren Raddysh from AHL Syracuse
March 1 – Acquired F Michael Eyssimont from San Jose in exchange for F Vladislav Namestnikov
Feb. 26 – Acquired F Tanner Jeannot from Nashville in exchange for D Cal Foote, a 2025 first-round pick, a 2024
second-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick, a 2023 fourth-round pick and a 2023 fifth-round pick
BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Thursday, March 2
Buffalo 1 at Boston 7
Goal: Mittelstadt
Goalies: Luukkonen (35 saves/40 shots) – 2 ENG
PP: 0/3; PK: 2/3; Shots: Boston 42 – Buffalo 27
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 109)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Alex Tuch (lower body, Feb. 26; IR) – 3 games
Rasmus Dahlin (lower body, Feb. 26; IR) – 3 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
2/26: Recalled F Vinnie Hinostroza from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Alex Tuch on injured reserve
2/27: Signed G Michael Houser and placed him on waivers
2/27: Acquired D Riley Stillman from Vancouver in exchange for F Josh Bloom
2/28: G Michael Houser cleared waivers and was assigned to Rochester (AHL)
3/2: Added D Riley Stillman to the active roster; Placed D Rasmus Dahlin on injured reserve; Traded F Anders Bjork to Chicago in exchange for future considerations
3/3: Acquired D Austin Strand from Anaheim in exchange for D Chase Priskie; Acquired F Jordan Greenway from Minnesota in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft (VGK) and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft; Acquired a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft in exchange for F Rasmus Asplund
UPCOMING GAMES
Monday, March 6: Edmonton at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 7: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 9: Dallas at Buffalo, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 11: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 5:00 p.m.
Monday, March 13: Buffalo at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
LIGHTNING AT SABRES
• This is the fourth and final meeting between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Tampa Bay 6-5 (OT) in Tampa Bay on Feb. 23.
• The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games against the Lightning; 3-5-2 at home.
• This is the 113th game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 57-45-10 series record.
• The Sabres are 27-22-6 at home against the Lightning all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• A win today would give the Sabres consecutive wins over the Lightning for the first time since they earned victories on Feb. 13, 2018 (5-3) and Feb. 28, 2018 (2-1).
• A win today would also match Buffalo’s win total from 2021-22.
• Tage Thompson has recorded 30 points (15+15) in his last 27 games, including 11 points (6+5) in his last eight games.
• In his last 39 games, Jeff Skinner has notched 46 points (20+26), including 10 points (5+5) in his last eight games.
• In his last eight games, Jack Quinn has recorded eight points (3+5).
• Casey Mittelstadt (3+7) has collected 10 points in his last 10 games.
• In his last 10 games, Dylan Cozens has recorded nine points (6+3).
• Owen Power has notched an assist in three of his last four games.
• A point in today’s game would give JJ Peterka his fourth point streak of three or more games this season, and his first since he recorded a point in four consecutive games from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 (2+2).
DOWN BY THE BAY
• Tage Thompson has notched 10 points (6+4) in his last eight games against Tampa Bay, including six points (4+2) in three games against the Lightning this season.
• In addition to Thompson, Zemgus Girgensons (2+1) and Jeff Skinner (2+2) each have a point in all three 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 three career games against the Lightning.
• With a point in today’s game, Tyson Jost would earn a three-game point streak against Tampa Bay.
