TAMPA — After watching their one-goal lead become a one-goal deficit in the final 22.3 seconds of the first period Sunday at Amalie Arena, the Lightning went into the dressing room needing to regroup.
“We just came to the realization to calm down,” center Anthony Cirelli said. “We knew we had better in us. I thought it was just go out there and try to stick to our game, try and build shift after shift. And I thought we did that for the rest of the game.”
The Lightning responded with a four-goal, second period, eliciting an outpouring of emotion, on their way to a 7-4 win over the Sabres.
“The guys knew what was at stake (Sunday),” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And I thought they really had an outstanding second period. And it’s a good sign for a team to give up two in the last minute, which is no-no, and make sure to come out in the second and play the way we did, and that was the difference in the game.”
Nikita Kucherov put the Lightning ahead to stay at 6:34 of the second with the first of his two goals. With three points, he put himself in the driver’s seat for a second straight Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer.
Kucherov’s 119 points are three more than Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who isn’t expected to play in the Avalanche’s remaining regular season games.
Jake Guentzel scored twice, giving him 40 goals to tie his career high. His second goal was his 17th on the power play, which leads the NHL.
Rookie Conor Geekie, playing his first game back with the Lightning since being demoted to AHL Syracuse 10 weeks ago, joined the second-period scoring party. Defenseman Emil Lilleberg capped the flurry with his first career NHL goal.
The Lightning (46-26-8) reached the 100-point mark for the eighth time in franchise history and the first since the last of their three straight runs to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021-22.
They took control of second place in the Atlantic Division and can clinch home ice for the first round as early as Monday, with a Rangers regulation win at Florida. If that doesn’t happen, the Lightning can lock up second place by beating the Panthers Tuesday at home.
Kucherov goal sparks Lightning
The Lightning entered the night 1-1-3 in their last five games, including a shootout loss last week in Buffalo. It was a maddening stretch of missed opportunities and puck-handling miscues, and Kucherov seemed to carry that pent-up frustration on his stick.
After Ryan McDonagh evened the score at 2 just over three minutes into the second, Kucherov took a puck chipped off the wall and made an inside move on Alex Tuch before picking up speed crossing the blue line. He wristed a shot from above the right hash that pinged off the crossbar, then tapped in the puck from behind goaltender James Reimer.
As he circled behind back of the net, Kucherov had a little extra in his celebration, dropping to one knee and emphatically waving his right fist in the air.
“I think the guys, they know what’s at stake for him as well,” Cooper said of Kucherov, who can win his third career scoring title. “So I think when you get down at this time of year, it’s all about the team, but there’s some individual accomplishments that can go down. The guys fed off the emotion ...
