The Buffalo Sabres lost 7-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday at Amalie Arena.
In their 80th game of the season and last on the road, the Sabres took the lead at the end of the first period before surrendering four goals in the second. They finish the season 13-24-4 away from KeyBank Center.
Buffalo’s first-period goals came in a 15-second span from Jiri Kulich, his 15th of the season, and Connor Clifton, his first. Alex Tuch added a power-play tally and Sam Lafferty an even-strength goal in the third, with Rasmus Dahlin notching his 50th and 51st assists for his third straight multi-point game.
James Reimer started in net and made 24 saves on 31 shots.
Sabres defenseman Owen Power missed his first game of the season due to a lower-body injury suffered Saturday at Florida. Jacob Bryson entered the lineup in his place and skated 15:40.
Tampa Bay got multi-point nights from Nikita Kucherov (2+1), Jake Guentzel (2+0), Nick Paul (0+2), Brandon Hagel (0+2), Anthony Cirelli (0+2) and Gage Goncalves (0+2). Ryan McDonagh, Conor Geekie and Emil Lilleberg also scored, and Lightning goalie Jonas Johansson stopped 21 of 25 shots.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Period
Jack Quinn nearly opened the scoring five minutes in, as he kicked the puck to his stick, sped into the offensive zone and rang a shot off the post. Tuch, too, hit the post a few minutes later, and Tage Thompson was denied on a pair of point-blank shots from the slot.
Guentzel got Tampa Bay on the board at 16:35, tapping in a loose puck that had ricocheted off a net-front crowd.
With a minute left, the Lightning nearly scored again on a series of redirections, but Reimer dove back toward the goal line to freeze the puck. That save set the stage for two Sabres goals in the final 22.3 seconds of the period.
First, Kulich reached through a pair of Tampa Bay defenders to get a shot through Johansson. Then, Quinn deked Victor Hedman and made a backhand pass from one knee, finding Clifton at the back door for his first goal of the season.
Second Period
McDonagh tied it 2-2 with a one-timer from the high slot 3:01 into the period.
Kucherov, after hitting the post on a 2-on-1 rush, chased his shot and tapped it in behind Reimer to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead. Geekie extended that lead to 4-2 at 14:20, and Lilleberg added his first career goal less than three minutes later.
Tampa Bay held a 15-7 edge in second-period shots and 4-0 in goals.
Third Period
Kucherov scored his second of the game 2:39 into the period, stealing a cross-slot pass and lifting a shot past Reimer.
Buffalo got 50 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play midway through the period, and Tuch tipped in Dahlin’s backdoor feed to bring the Sabres within three goals.
But Guentzel scored a power-play goal of his own at 13:12, restoring Tampa Bay’s four-goal lead.
Dahlin banked a perfect stretch pass off the end boards and connected with Lafferty, who scored a fourth Sabres goal with 1:37 remaining.
UP NEXT
The Sabres wrap up the regular season with a two-game homestand, which begins Tuesday versus Toronto. Tickets are available here.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.