The Tampa Bay Lightning won\u2019t be denied.<\/p>\n
The Boston Bruins learned firsthand after Sunday\u2019s 2026 NHL Stadium Series game\u2014one that saw the greatest comeback victory in Lightning franchise history. And now after Tuesday, the Buffalo Sabres know, too.<\/p>\n
Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh blasted home the game-tying goal with 25 seconds left in the third period on Tuesday to force overtime against Buffalo at Benchmark International Arena, and teammate Jake Guentzel then stunned the Sabres by winning the game on a breakaway with only 15 seconds remaining in the extra period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just go into every game, we feel like we have a chance to win it,\u201d Guentzel said. \u201cWe believe in our group, and when we’re down, we\u2019ve just got to keep pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay\u2019s latest comeback victory improves the team to 36-14-4 this season, a record helped by an 18-1-1 run over its last 20 games.<\/p>\n
The Lightning crawled out of a tough spot late on Tuesday\u2014tied 2-2 with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period, Tampa Bay was called for a tripping penalty. The Sabres took advantage, grabbing a 3-2 lead when Josh Doan directed the puck into the net at the right post with 5:07 left in regulation.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay pulled their goalie in the closing minutes, allowing Nikita Kucherov to tee up Raddysh for a one-timer atop the offensive zone at 6-on-5. The puck whistled through heavy traffic in front of the net, beating goalie Colten Ellis on the blocker side with 25 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Brandon Hagel) made a great play over to Kuch and everyone kind of went and looked at him,\u201d Raddysh said of the play. \u201cKuch makes my job easy. I\u2019ve just got to come in and pound it. Good screen in front too, and thankfully it went in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raddysh has now scored a goal in five consecutive games, which is now the franchise record for longest goal-scoring streak by a defenseman. He initially broke the record in Sunday\u2019s Stadium Series game.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old defenseman now has 17 goals and 51 points this season. He hit the 50-point mark in his 48th game this season, tying Victor Hedman as the fastest defenseman to reach 50 points in any season in franchise history.<\/p>\n
Kucherov had a goal and four points, including an assist on Guentzel\u2019s overtime winner. Kucherov flung the puck from the Lightning goal line in overtime to a waiting Guentzel at center ice behind Buffalo\u2019s defense, and the latter buried his shot five-hole.<\/p>\n
Raddysh said the team continues to believe in one another, and that was especially the case in overtime against their Atlantic Division opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s next goal wins, and we believe in the guys in this room to get the job done,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was evident tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuesday started with a goal by Kucherov, his team-leading 29th of the season 10:24 into the game.<\/p>\n
Guentzel intercepted a breakout pass by Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin atop the left faceoff circle and quickly zipped a pass to Nikita Kucherov near the goal line. Kucherov wasted no time in sending his shot past the glove of Ellis.<\/p>\n
Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson tied the game with 3:07 remaining in the first period when he skated to the bottom of the left corner and snuck a shot inside the near post for the 1-1 goal.<\/p>\n
It was Samuelsson who then gave the Sabres their first lead of the night 4:08 into the third period\u2014the defenseman skated through the center of the offensive zone and released a shot from above the circles that evaded Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy into the right half of the net.<\/p>\n
The Lightning tied the game 2-2 with 11:07 remaining in the third on the power play. Raddysh\u2019s point shot created a rebound for Oilver Bjorkstrand, who buried the netfront rebound for his ninth goal\u2014and eighth on the power play\u2014this season.<\/p>\n
The teams then traded the goals by Doan and Raddysh to force overtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight was a pretty close game,\u201d Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. \u201cWe were fortunate to get the late 6-on-5 goal, but these guys play hard. That’s the one thing I can never fault these guys for. And we’re getting big goals at big times, and that’s really helping us. It\u2019s really just a pleasure to coach the group. A lot of positivity on the bench, and for the most part, everybody pulls in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay will now prepare for the team’s final game before the Olympic break, set for Thursday when they host the Florida Panthers at 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Benjamin\u2019s Three Stars:<\/p>\n
Jake Guentzel, TBL (Game-winning goal, assist)
\nNikita Kucherov, TBL (Goal, 3 assists)
\nMattias Samuelsson, BUF (2 goals)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Lightning won\u2019t be denied. The Boston Bruins learned firsthand after Sunday\u2019s 2026 NHL Stadium Series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-143360","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\/143360","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=143360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}