The puck drops between the Sabres and Lightning at 7 p.m. Here’s what you need to know in the meantime. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff shook up the defense pairs during the loss to the Sharks. Mattias Samuelsson joined a defense pair with Rasmus Dahlin while Bowen Byram spent time alongside Owen Power.
The Sabres are on their second winless streak of five or more games this season, and eighth under GM Kevyn Adams.
Losing top defenseman and captain Victor Hedman is something the Lightning can't afford with the postseason on the horizon.
The Sabres have lost seven games this year when leading by two or more goals at some point. Four of the seven have been in regulation.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are poised for an easy victory against the Buffalo Sabres, given their superior offensive and defensive performance. With key players like Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy excelling,
BOTTOM LINE: The Buffalo Sabres are looking to stop their four-game slide with a victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay is 36-21-4 overall and 7-10-0 against the Atlantic Division. The Lightning are second in the league with 217 total goals (averaging 3.6 per game).