Hot Lightning seek to subdue surging Sabres
Following Sunday's Stadium Series match that was off the charts in terms of production, competition and drama, the Tampa Bay Lightning will return to playing indoors when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
The Lightning trailed by four goals in the second period before rallying for a 6-5 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Sunday. Jake Guentzel netted the only goal in the shootout at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
During a fight-filled middle frame in which the Bruins lost their composure, Tampa Bay scored three power-play goals to turn a possible blowout loss into a manageable one-goal deficit.
The momentum-shifter occurred at 11:01 when goaltenders Jeremy Swayman and Andrei Vasilevskiy duked it out briefly in the neutral zone.
"I was like, ‘Thank goodness, something positive is going to happen to our game,'" Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of seeing Vasilevskiy shed the mask and goalie gear. "I've got to give Boston a lot of credit. They took it to us, and we weren't prepared.
"I think a little bit of the score had to do it, and Vasi was (angry). You could tell the game was starting to get a little bit of life to it even though the scoring was out of hand."
The victory pushed Tampa Bay to a sizzling 17-1-1 in the past 19 games.
Cooper sported a spiffy outfit befitting of Tony Montana from the 1983 film "Scarface" and smoked cigars before and after the extravaganza.
"This event doesn't come around very often, and probably dressing like this doesn't come around very often either," Cooper said.
Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov recorded four points (goal, three assists) and leads the NHL with 1.76 points per game over his 49 games, besting Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (1.72) and Edmonton's Connor McDavid (1.70).
The Sabres have climbed into a wild-card position thanks to a 21-4-1- run, and that trend continued with Monday's 5-3 win at the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Peyton Krebs collected one goal and two assists and Josh Doan had one of each as Buffalo improved to 6-1-0 in the past seven matches.
The Panthers held a 41-20 shot advantage, but the Sabres rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the match's opening 5:54 and moved to 19-11-3 against the Eastern Conference and 11-4-2 within the Atlantic Division.
Coach Lindy Ruff's squad will face the streaking Lightning in the first of four meetings this season.
On Sunday, Buffalo recalled forward Isak Rosen from Rochester of the American Hockey League and loaned defenseman Zac Jones to the minor-league team.
The 14th overall pick in 2021, Rosen produced three goals and four assists earlier this season when the Sabres awarded him minutes on the top line and power play. The 22-year-old Swede also has played on the grinding fourth line.
"It's never an easy transition," Rosen said before heading to Florida with his teammates. "You have to put the work in. It feels better, of course, to know that I can play on this level."
Rosen replaces Jordan Greenway, who has yet to fully recover from two hernia surgeries.