Carlson's Career Night Boosts Offense Past Buffalo
John Carlson’s career night along with Nikita Kucherov’s natural hat trick ignites the offense leading to a commanding 8-3 victory in Buffalo. Sam O’Reilly made his NHL debut and would score his first point in a score fest. With Brayden Point now on IR the offense had to step up and that would be the case in Buffalo. While a comeback attempt was made by Buffalo, Tampa Bay quickly responded and made sure that there would be no further attempts by the Sabres.
Vasilevskiy tested early
An early turnover gave the Sabres a chance to score in the first minute, but Andrei Vasilevskiy was able to get a piece of it. Immediately after, the Lightning nearly scored but that chance was stopped by Ukka- Pekka Luukkonen. Vasilevskiy would be tested again and went left to right to make the save and keep the game scoreless. In the first five minutes of the game Buffalo led with five shots on goal to Tampa Bay’s two. With 12:58 to go Zach Benson was sent off for hooking against John Carlson giving Tampa Bay the first power play of the night. Lightning could not connect on the power play and the game remained scoreless.
Scoreless no longer
It did not take long for the Sabres to get their chance on the man advantage after Erik Cernak was sent off for tripping. While Buffalo had some good chances on the power play, Vasilevskiy remained sharp and the penalty was killed off. Both teams would be 0-1 on the power play in a still scoreless affair. Late in the period Ryan McDounagh nearly scored the opening goal but the puck rang off the top of the post instead. Just when it seemed the period would end scoreless, Scott Sabourin coming off a change knocked in the rebound to score his first goal of the season and make it 1-0 Tampa Bay.
Adding to the lead in the final minute
With under a minute left in the period Tampa Bay received a late power play after a delay of game was called on Josh Doan. This time, the Lightning connected on the power play and wasted no time to add to their lead. Jake Guentzel fed Carlson with a quick pass in front of the net to score his 6th of the season to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead heading into the 2nd period.
Keeping the foot on the gas pedal
The second period opened with tight plays on both sides of the ice making it harder to generate a scoring opportunity. After a quiet start to the period once again the Lightning found the back of the net. This time it was Brandon Hagel’s turn who scored his 10th of the season to make it 3-0 Lightning. Tampa Bay had a 3-on-1 breakaway to try and make it a 4-0 game but could not connect and instead surrendered a holding the stick penalty on the other end to give Buffalo their second chance on the power play.
Welcome to the NHL rookie
Buffalo still could not find an answer to Vasilevskiy as they only had one shot on the power play keeping the score 3-0 in favor of Tampa Bay. Tage Thompson tried a nifty move to get one past Vasilevskiy but ran out of room to try and get the puck in high. The fourth goal of the night would be one to remember for Sam O’Reilly. In just his second game back from injury Yanni Gourde scores from another pass from Guentzel. The puck was retrieved as Oreilly had the secondary assist on the goal which was his first career point in his first career game.
Sabres will not go down without a fight
Cernak went into locker room after being checked into the boards by Beck Malenstyn with nearly six minutes to go in the period. His teammates quickly responded to the hit with Ilya Mikheyev going right after Malenstyn leading to a power play for the Sabres. This time Buffalo would connect on the power play and end the shutout for Vasilevskiy. Josh Doan perfectly tipped the puck to get the Sabres on the board, cutting the lead 4-1. Off the rush Jason Zucker scored his second of the season to make it 4-2 Lightning with 27 seconds left in the period. After going up 4-0, momentum was slipping away from the Lightning and had to remain focused to prevent a third period comeback.
A disaster waiting to happen?
Third period began with Thompson scoring 33 seconds in to make it a one goal game. This was the nightmare scenario the Lightning were hoping to avoid and instead the crowd is reignited and momentum was for sure with Buffalo. However, the Lightning would respond thanks to Kucherov reminding everyone why he was the MVP last year with a solo effort to slip by the defense and make it a 5-3 game. In response, Buffalo made a goalie change with Colten Ellis replacing Pekka Luukkonen.
Regaining momentum and a career high for Carlson
After that scare to end the second and start the third the offense picked apart the Sabres defense as they have been doing all night to make it a three-goal lead again. Nikita Kucherov scored his second of the game with the helpers coming from Carlson and Anthony Cirelli to make the score 6-3. With assisting on the goal, Carlson for the first time in his career had a four-point game. Tempers flared which saw Norris and J.J. Moser sent off causing 4-on-4 hockey for a couple of minutes. With 12:06 left in the period Tampa Bay went on the power play for a third time.
Milestone and natural hat trick
Buffalo killed off the penalty keeping the score 6-3 with just under half the period to go. Sabres would not let up and tried to cut the lead again but this time the Lightning played smarter and were able to clear the puck out of their zone. Buffalo pulled the goalie with 6:43 to go but surrendered a penalty negating the chance to get an extra attacker on the ice. On the power play Nikita Kucherov would get his hat trick and Carlson net his 800th career point becoming the 5th American defensemen to do so.
Riding momentum into tomorrow
Kucherov was not done as he fed Hagel for his second goal of the night and the score was now 8-3 and there would be no worries about another comeback attempt by the Sabres. Even though both teams were looking for more goals there would be nothing added to the score sheet after the Hagel goal. The Lightning defeated the Sabres 8-3 and would not have much time to rest having another game tomorrow.
Three Stars of the Game
John Carlson - 1 goal, 4 assists for a career high five point game
Nikita Kucherov - 3 goals and 1 assist with the hat trick being a natural hat trick
Jake Guentzel - 4 assists
Up Next
Tampa Bay will finish the road trip tomorrow in Columbus facing off against the Blue Jackets with puck drop at 7pm est.
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