Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, J.J. Moser had a goal and two assists, and Darren Raddysh had three assists for the Lightning (39-19-4), who were coming off a 5-2 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday but have lost five of their past six games. Jonas Johansson made 34 saves.
“The bottom line is, we gave up five special-team goals,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We gave up four power-play goals and a shorty. That was the game. I could have handled the rest of it, no problem. … But just the fact that we gave up those special team goals, that’s the part I’m a little irked about.”
Kucherov cut it to 4-2 on the power play at 12:26 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected in off Tuch’s skate.
Zemgus Girgensons narrowed it to 4-3 at 14:46 when he beat Luukkonen glove side, and Moser scored from the slot to tie it 4-4 at 17:37.
Kucherov then scored 59 seconds into the third period on a one-timer from the right circle to give the Lightning their first lead of the game, 5-4.
Brayden Point made it 6-4 at 5:46 when his centering pass was knocked into the net by Buffalo defenseman Bowen Byram.
Sam Carrick cut it to 6-5 at 6:12, scoring far side from the right circle, but Hagel pushed the lead to 7-5 at 9:48 by one-timing a rebound from the left circle.
“We’ve been kind of a team that’s done that all year and kind of a team that’s finished it,” Tampa Bay forward Brandon Hagel said. “But I mean, those are things we can clean up. We obviously got to be better. Eight goals, it’s unacceptable.”
Dahlin got the Sabres to within 7-6 at 11:03 when he cut to the net and put in a wrist shot blocker side. Zucker then scored on a breakaway to tie it 7-7 at 14:29.
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