For the first time in three weeks, the Lightning entered a game without a single player or coach in COVID protocol. And despite being without defenseman Ryan McDonagh Tuesday in Buffalo, their roster was almost as whole as it’s been since the beginning of the season.
Coming off a frustrating loss to Boston Saturday and Monday’s game in New Jersey postponed due to COVID issues with the Devils, the Lightning went to work quickly against the struggling Sabres at Key Arena.
The Lightning ran out to an early lead and never looked back, their bench full of smiles throughout a lopsided 6-1 win.
Nikita Kucherov had a hat trick, his first goals since returning from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for nearly three months. Captain Steven Stamkos scored his team-high 17th goal and added two assists.
The Lightning were a much different team than the one that looked outworked against the Bruins. They ruled in puck possession, executed on the forecheck and dominated in zone time, taking advantage of a Sabres team that entered the night winless in its last five games and 3-12-4 in its past 19.
Ondrej Palat opened the scoring with a goal in his fourth straight game, taking a feed from Victor Hedman just over two minutes into the game.
Midway through the period, Alex Killorn started a rush with a backhand pass to Mikhail Sergachev in the neutral zone. Sergachev skated to the right circle, bluffed a shot and passed to Anthony Cirelli, who wristed a shot from between the hashmarks past Buffalo goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Kucherov scored his first goal on the first shot of the second period, 27 seconds in. He took advantage of new goaltender Malcolm Subban, who started the period after Luukkonen left with an injury. Kucherov’s second goal was set up by a nifty move from Corey Perry, who took the puck at the blue line, went to the right dot and veered toward the near post before feeding Kucherov across the crease.
Positioned behind the net, Killorn found Stamkos staking to the slot on the power play with just under six minutes left in the second.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who improved his career record against the Sabres to 12-1-1, wasn’t challenged much but made two critical saves on first-period breakaways with the game still close. He held the Sabres scoreless until Vinnie Hinostroza cleaned up Colin Miller’s rebound for a goal five and a half minutes into the third.
