Buffalo had already scored twice late in the second period when it cut Tampa Bay’s lead to one just 33 seconds into the third. Nikita Kucherov ended the comeback bid less than a minute later. His breakaway goal was the first of three straight as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Sabres 8–3 on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center.
Kucherov struck at 1:25 and 4:11 of the third, then finished the hat trick on the power play at 14:13. John Carlson assisted on all three goals and also scored in the first period. Jake Guentzel contributed four assists, and Brandon Hagel scored twice, including the final goal off a pass from Kucherov.
Tampa Bay’s lead had reached 4–0 before Josh Doan and Jason Zucker scored late in the second and Tage Thompson made it 4–3 just 33 seconds into the third. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves. The win lifted the Lightning to 12–4–2. They finish their road trip Thursday against Columbus.
Source: NHL game recap.
Photo: NHL.
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