Buffalo Sabres (20-14-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning (23-21-4)<\/p>\n
Puck Drop: 7:30 PM | Benchmark International Arena | Tampa, FL<\/p>\n
TV: ESPN +\/HULU<\/p>\n
Radio: WGR 550<\/p>\n
Know Your Opponent<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning <\/p>\n
Record: 35-14-4 | 74 PTS<\/p>\n
Division Ranking: 1st in Atlantic Division<\/p>\n
Last Game: 6-5 SO Win vs Boston Bruins<\/p>\n
PP: 12th (22.0%) | Sabres Rank: 18th (19.9%)<\/p>\n
PK: 3rd (84.2%) | Sabres Rank: 8th (82.6%)<\/p>\n
What to Watch<\/p>\n
1. Lightning Striking<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay has been a tough team to make up ground on. In their 13 January games, they went 11-1-1. They began February with a dramatic comeback win against Boston in an outdoor stadium series game. Missing Brayden Point has not hindered their rise in the standings. Kucherov is not surprisingly their biggest offensive threat. He has 86 points in 49 games which is 29 more points then the next highest player on the Lightning (Guentzel \u2013 57). The Sabres will need to keep him in check to prevent him from controlling the game.<\/p>\n
2. All Hands on Deck<\/p>\n
Both teams are dealing with their share of injuries. Buffalo has been without multiple key pieces at various times this year with Zach Benson\u2019s injury yesterday being the latest. Tampa Bay has been without Brayden Point and just announced that Anthoney Cirelli and Nick Paul will not return before the Olympic break. These injuries to key players create opportunities for others down the lineup while testing the teams\u2019 organizational depth. Last night, it was Payton Krebs who stepped up. Buffalo will need another outside of their top performers to provide an additional boost to defeat the Lightning.<\/p>\n
3. Playoff Preview?<\/p>\n
If the playoffs were today, the Sabres would play Carolina and Tampa Bay would face off against Boston. However, the standings are very tight and we could very well see a Lightning-Sabres matchup in the spring. Even with their depleted line ups, the intensity is due to ramp up. It will be a good stress test for Buffalo. Without rest and shorthanded, they will everyone to step up as shortening the bench is less of a viable option. They\u2019ve played well in these situations this season, and hopefully they can keep that going.<\/p>\n
Projected Lineups (*likely to change)<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n
Forwards<\/p>\n
Krebs \u2013 Thompson \u2013 Tuch
Zucker \u2013 McLeod \u2013 Quinn
Helenius \u2013 Ostlund \u2013 Doan
Rosen \u2013 Kozak \u2013 Malenstyn<\/p>\n
Defense<\/p>\n
Samuelsson \u2013 Dahlin
Byram \u2013 Power
Metsa \u2013 Kesselring<\/p>\n
Starter: Ellis<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n
Forwards<\/p>\n
Hagel \u2013 Guentzel \u2013 Kucherov
TBD \u2013 James \u2013 Goncalves
Girgensons \u2013 Gourde \u2013 Holmberg
Bjorkstrand \u2013 TBD<\/p>\n
Defense<\/p>\n
Hedman \u2013 Crozier
Moser \u2013 Raddysh
McDonagh \u2013 Cernak<\/p>\n
Carlile<\/p>\n
Starter: Vasilevskiy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buffalo Sabres (20-14-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning (23-21-4) Puck Drop: 7:30 PM | Benchmark International Arena | Tampa,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-142794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}