The Tampa Bay Lightning scored eight goals on 22 shots in a blowout win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center.
The Sabres have been inconsistent through the first quarter of the season. They have yet to put together a string of games in which their offense, defense, goaltending, and special teams have all been solid. Wednesday was no different, as the defense struggled for much of the game.
Tampa Bay capitalized late in the first period. On an odd-man rush, Jake Guentzel found Morgan Geekie streaking toward the net. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a brilliant initial stop on Geekie, but couldn’t reach the rebound, which Scott Sabourin put away to give the Lightning a 1–0 lead at 18:49.
Less than a minute later, John Carlson scored a power-play goal to make it 2–0 just before the end of the period.
The Lightning extended their lead in the second. Brandon Hagel scored the first of his two goals, collecting the puck amid a scramble in front of the net and firing it past Luukkonen to make it 3–0.
At 13:02, Yanni Gourde scored his first goal of the season, taking a feed from Guentzel and slipping the puck past Luukkonen to make it 4–0.
The Sabres finally got on the board late in the period. Josh Doan scored a power-play goal at 15:54, and Jason Zucker cut the lead in half with 30 seconds left, finishing a well-executed passing play with Noah Östlund and Jack Quinn.
Tage Thompson brought Buffalo within one just 33 seconds into the third period, beating Andrei Vasilevskiy with a rocket from the top of the circle that tucked inside the far post.
The Lightning’s response was quick and decisive: Nikita Kucherov completed a hat trick. His first goal came on a backhand breakaway at 1:32, chasing Luukkonen from the game. He scored again with a one-timer from the faceoff dot at 4:11, then completed the hat trick with a power-play goal from the dot at 14:13, making it 7–3.
Hagel scored his second of the night at 15:06, firing a wrist shot past Colten Ellis after a beautiful drop pass from Kucherov to cap the scoring at 8–3.
Next, the Sabres travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks on Thursday night at the United Center.
