The Tampa Bay Lightning will continue their pursuit of a fifth division title in franchise history on Saturday when they take on the Buffalo Sabres.
Tampa Bay (44-26-5, 93 points) enters the day in second place in the Atlantic Division, trailing the Toronto Maple Leafs by three points with just seven games left. The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are only one point behind the Lightning, fighting for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Tampa Bay might have a slight edge in the schedule down the stretch. Following Saturday’s game against Buffalo, the Lightning will play four of their final six games at home, where they’ve posted an impressive 27-8-2 record. On the other hand, the Maple Leafs will play four of their last six games on the road, including a challenging back-to-back against Florida and Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Lightning are coming off a 2-1 loss to Ottawa on Thursday, ending a four-game winning streak. Despite outshooting the Senators 32-19 overall and 11-3 in the final period, Tampa Bay was undone by a stellar performance from goaltender Linus Ullmark, the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner. Ullmark stopped 31 shots, including one on a short-handed breakaway by Brandon Hagel early in the third period, while Anthony Cirelli hit the crossbar on another short-handed rush.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper offered his thoughts on the loss: “The goalie made the saves he had to make, and they blocked the shots they had to block, and that was it. If you ask me, ‘Are you unhappy with your team tonight?’ No, I’m not. Sometimes you just don’t win those games. We’ve won a lot of them, but tonight we didn’t.”
“We had our chances,” said Lightning forward Yanni Gourde. “Overall, I thought we played pretty well. We got some good opportunities, missed a couple of them. I missed one on the back door. We had some good looks.”
Buffalo (32-36-6, 70 points) enters the game on a four-game home winning streak. The Sabres have won two straight and five of their last six, including a 5-2 victory at Ottawa on Tuesday. James Reimer stopped 33 shots for his fifth consecutive win, while Tage Thompson scored his 39th goal, tying him with Alex Ovechkin for third in the league.
Thompson has scored five goals in his last five games, and Alex Tuch is on a four-game goal streak. The Sabres are 11 points behind Montreal for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with just eight games remaining.
“Obviously, it’s a bit too late this year, but I think we’re learning how to close out games,” Thompson said. “Earlier in the season, we’d panic when the games mattered. We’d have a lead and let it slip away, but right now there’s no panic on the bench. There’s a lot of confidence that we can finish games strong.”
This will be the second of three regular-season matchups between Tampa Bay and Buffalo. The Lightning won the first game, 6-5, in Tampa on March 6, thanks to a hat trick from Jake Guentzel. The two teams will meet again on April 13 in Tampa.
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