Nikita Kucherov produced a third-period natural hat trick after Tampa Bay nearly wasted a four-goal lead, John Carlson reached 800 points with his first career five-point game, and the Lightning blew away the host Buffalo Sabres 8-3 on Wednesday.
Kucherov and Carlson were in on all four Tampa Bay tallies in the third after Buffalo’s Tage Thompson cut the Lightning’s lead to 4-3 just 33 seconds into the period. Kucherov tallied at 1:25, 4:11 and 14:13 of the period to put Tampa Bay up 7-3.
Brandon Hagel had two goals and an assist for Tampa Bay. Scott Sabourin and Yanni Gourde also scored, while Jake Guentzel recorded four assists.
Anthony Cirelli posted three assists in his 600th game, while Sam O’Reilly had an assist in his NHL debut. Charle-Edouard D’Astous finished plus-5. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Josh Doan and Jason Zucker had goals for Buffalo, which lost for the third time in four games (1-3-0). Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen surrendered five goals on 14 shots. Colten Ellis relieved him early in the third and allowed three goals on eight shots.
Already down a top forward in Brayden Point, the Lightning saw Cirelli get sent to the ice by Mattias Samuelsson and leave the game in the first period.
Late in the opening 20 minutes, Luukkonen made a fine save on Conor Geekie’s rush attempt, but Sabourin potted the rebound for his first goal at 18:49.
On Tampa Bay’s second man advantage of the night, Carlson finished a cross-ice pass from Guentzel with just 22 seconds left in the frame for a 2-0 advantage. Carlson finished with a goal and four assists.
The Lightning took control in the second. Cirelli, who returned after the hit, slipped a pass into the slot and Hagel picked it out of a mass of bodies before hitting the net for his 10th goal of the season at 4:33 and a 3-0 margin.
Just after the Sabres’ Tyson Kozak limped to the dressing room after a hard crash into Vasilevskiy, O’Reilly lifted a pass that Guentzel gathered and sent over to Gourde for his first goal in his second start after missing the season’s first 16 contests.
Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak became the third player to head to the room after crashing into the end glass above the board at the Lightning’s bench.
Doan then broke up the shutout on the power play at 15:54. Zucker cut it to 4-2 with 28 seconds left in the second before the wild five-goal third period.
