Buffalo Sabres (34-19-6) at Tampa Bay Lightning (38-15-4)<\/p>\n
Puck Drop: 7:00 PM | Benchmark International Arena | Tampa, FL<\/p>\n
TV: MSG-B<\/p>\n
Radio: WGR 550<\/p>\n
Know Your Opponent<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning <\/p>\n
Record: 38-15-4 | 80 PTS<\/p>\n
Division Ranking: 1st in Atlantic Division<\/p>\n
Last Game: 5-4 Loss vs Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n
PP: 11th (22.2%) | Sabres Rank: 15th (20.0%)<\/p>\n
PK: 5th (83.1%) | Sabres Rank: 7th (82.5%)<\/p>\n
What to Watch<\/p>\n
1. You Again?<\/p>\n
Three and a half weeks ago, Buffalo visited Tampa Bay for the second half of a back-to-back after defeating the Florida Panthers. Today they enter the same situation after securing the victory last night. Due to the Olympics break, both teams have only played three games since they last faced each other. Tampa went 2-1 in those games which bring their 2026 calendar year record to 15-2-1. Similar to their last matchup, Tampa Bay enters the game with a day of rest. Hopefully, Buffalo can flip the script and escape Florida with 4 points. If the game follows the same script, some may wonder if we\u2019re stuck in a time loop.<\/p>\n
2. Point has Returned<\/p>\n
One change from the early February matchup is the health of both teams. While Buffalo has seen the welcome return of Josh Norris, Tampa Bay has seen their number 1 center rejoin the lineup and make his presence known. After being out since mid-January, Brayden Point has three goals and two assists in his two games back in the lineup. Combine that with Kucherov\u2019s absurd 56 points in his last 24 games and Buffalo has their work cut out for them. They have to find a way to slow down the Lightning\u2019s top line if they want to have a chance to defeat the Atlantic Division leader.<\/p>\n
3. Olympians to Lead<\/p>\n
The best chance for Buffalo to secure the win is for their Olympian skaters to lead them to victory. Rasmus Dahlin has done well against Tampa Bay over the last few years. He has points in 10 of his last 11 games against them (2 goals and 12 assists) including points in his last 4 (1 goal and 5 assists). Thompson doesn\u2019t have the historical success Dahlin has had, but he\u2019s currently on a heater. He enters this game on a 6-game point streak and points in 10 of his last 11. Since coming back from the Olympics, both players seem to have benefitted from the elevated level of play by raising their own game. Buffalo can surely benefit from them continuing to produce at an elite level.<\/p>\n
Projected Lineups<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n
Forwards*<\/p>\n
Krebs \u2013 Thompson \u2013 Tuch
Ostlund \u2013 Norris \u2013 Doan
Zucker \u2013 McLeod \u2013 Quinn
Dunne \u2013 Kozak \u2013 Malenstyn<\/p>\n
Defense<\/p>\n
Samuelsson \u2013 Dahlin
Byram \u2013 Power
Metsa \u2013 Kesselring<\/p>\n
Starter: Luukkonen<\/p>\n
*Note: Sabres are hopeful Benson will return vs. Tampa Bay. Lineup subject to change<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n
Forwards<\/p>\n
Goncalves \u2013 Point \u2013 Kucherov
Hagel \u2013 Guentzel \u2013 Bjorkstrand
Girgensons \u2013 Gourde \u2013 Holmberg
Sabourin \u2013 James<\/p>\n
Defense<\/p>\n
Hedman \u2013 D\u2019astous
Moser \u2013 Raddysh
McDonagh \u2013 Cernak
Carlile<\/p>\n
Starter: Vasilevskiy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buffalo Sabres (34-19-6) at Tampa Bay Lightning (38-15-4) Puck Drop: 7:00 PM | Benchmark International Arena | Tampa,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-173054","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\/173054","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=173054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}