Lightning 8, Sabres 3: Kucherov's natural hat trick kills a Buffalo comeback
Buffalo cut a 4-0 deficit to one 33 seconds into the third period; Nikita Kucherov answered 52 seconds later and then scored twice more.
The final score says rout, and by the end it was one. But for about 52 seconds of the third period on Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning's 8-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center was a one-goal game, and it took Nikita Kucherov to end the argument.
Four up, then nearly level
Tampa Bay built its lead in bursts. Scott Sabourin opened the scoring at 18:49 of the first period, and John Carlson added a power-play goal 49 seconds later off a cross-crease pass from Jake Guentzel. Brandon Hagel made it 3-0 at 4:33 of the second and Yanni Gourde finished an odd-man rush at 13:02 for a 4-0 lead.
Then Buffalo found a way back in. Josh Doan redirected a Ryan McLeod pass on the power play late in the second period, and Jason Zucker scored on a backhand with 28 seconds left before the intermission. When Tage Thompson's one-timer went in off the far post 33 seconds into the third, it was 4-3.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper told NHL.com that Zucker's late goal "was kind of the kicker," and that his team had "lost a little bit of concentration" after going up by four.
Kucherov's answer
The response was immediate. At 1:25 of the third, Kucherov got in alone and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with a backhand. He one-timed a Carlson pass from the right circle at 4:11, then scored from the same spot on the power play at 14:13, again from Carlson. Three straight goals, a natural hat trick. Hagel's second of the night, off a Kucherov drop pass at 15:06, closed the scoring.
"Kuch did a Kuch thing and scored right after that kind of to snuff things out, and then we took it from there," Cooper said.
According to NHL.com, it was Kucherov's third natural hat trick, the most in Lightning history, and his eighth hat trick overall, tying Martin St. Louis for second on the franchise list behind Steven Stamkos' 13.
Carlson had a goal and four assists. The last of them was his 800th NHL point. Guentzel had four assists and Anthony Cirelli, playing his 600th NHL game, had three. Sam O'Reilly picked up his first NHL point in his debut. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Buffalo's problem
Luukkonen allowed five goals on 14 shots and was replaced by Colten Ellis after Kucherov's first goal; Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said the change was meant to give his team a spark. Ellis gave up three more on eight shots.
Neither the coach nor the captain blamed the goaltending alone. "As a group, we weren't good enough," Ruff said. Rasmus Dahlin was blunter about how the chances came: "We can't give up 2-on-1s, 3-on-1s, 2-on-1s."
Thompson's goal was a small consolation with some history attached: his 224th for Buffalo, tying Miroslav Satan for eighth in franchise history.
Where it leaves them
Tampa Bay is 12-4-2 and 5-1-2 in its past eight. The Lightning lost defenseman Erik Cernak in the second period after a hit from Beck Malenstyn sent him into the glass, and they play again Thursday in Columbus.
Buffalo is 8-7-3 and has lost three of its last four. The Sabres are in Chicago on Thursday to begin a six-game road trip, per WBEN.