{"id":220675,"date":"2026-04-06T15:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220675\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T15:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:49:16","slug":"sabres-vs-lightning-how-to-watch-lineup-notes-and-storylines-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220675\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabres vs. Lightning | How to watch, lineup notes, and storylines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Though officially heading to the playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves in a 2-3-2 slump that\u2019s been defined by slow starts and subpar defensive play. On Saturday, what Tage Thompson called a \u201cputrid\u201d defensive zone led to a quick 3-0 deficit and a 6-2 loss in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>The Sabres hope \u2013 expect, actually \u2013 to get back on track when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday at 7 p.m. at KeyBank Center, a rematch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/sabres\/news\/buffalo-sabres-tampa-bay-lightning-recap-fights-dahlin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">last month\u2019s back-and-forth, fight-filled, 8-7 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That March 8 win advanced Buffalo into first place in the Atlantic Division. Four weeks later, the Sabres sit two points behind the Lightning with one fewer game remaining, so a loss Monday might put a division title out of reach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone in here is happy with our effort and the performance we had on this trip,\u201d Thompson said Saturday. \u201cBack at home against a team that we\u2019ve been battling with most of the season for that top spot, so it\u2019s a great opportunity for us to respond and set the tone that we want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA game where there was a lot of intensity last time,\u201d added coach Lindy Ruff, \u201cand maybe it\u2019s exactly what we need right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With 102 total penalty minutes in the last matchup, more nastiness can be expected this time around. That said, Buffalo scored four power-play goals, including Josh Doan\u2019s late game winner, so the Lightning might opt for more discipline in the season series finale.<\/p>\n<p>However it goes, the Sabres know a performance like Saturday\u2019s won\u2019t fly against Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHopefully, getting back to KeyBank Center gives us a little bit of a jolt that we need,\u201d said Alex Tuch. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna come out with a lot of passion, a lot of energy, and we\u2019re gonna try to take it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are all the details before puck drop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though officially heading to the playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves in a 2-3-2 slump that\u2019s been defined&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-220675","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\/220675","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=220675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}