After a 6 day break, the Buffalo Sabres drop a nail-biter to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 3-2 for the first of two games as part of the NHL Global Series that is being held in Stockholm, Sweden.
With two well rested teams, the first period was off to a fast-paced start. It didn’t take long for the scoring to get started. Just over 3 minutes into the game, Nikita Kucherov notched his 5th goal of the season after a beautiful saucer pass from Brayden Point to set Kucherov up with a grade-A chance. Kevin Shattenkirk would also grab an assist on the opening goal.
Alex Killorn struck on the power play to put the Lightning up 2-0 with 3:46 remaining in the first period. Goaltender Linus Ullmark, who was phenomenal all night with 31 saves on 34 shots, was in position to make the save on a Victor Hedman blast from the point. Killorn was able to knock the back under the arm of Ullmark and into back of the net.
Jack Eichel had an incredible play that might have been a contender for “goal of the year” as he took the puck from in own zone through all 5 Tampa Bay players and almost finished off the brilliant chance before being stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Sam Reinhart put the Sabres on the board with almost 5 minutes remaining in the 2nd period with a perfect deflection on a Rasmus Ristolainen shot from the point. This would be his 6th of the year.
You gotta love the hand-eye from Sam Reinhart here. #NHLGlobalSeries pic.twitter.com/Wa6zbXZaH8
— NHL (@NHL) November 8, 2019
As the 3rd period rolled on in a 2-1 game, Patrick Maroon made a power move to get the puck in front of the Sabres’ net that was finished off by Yanni Gourde to put the Lightning up 3-1. This marked his 3rd goal of the year.
With 8:30 remaining in the 3rd period, Sam Reinhart scored his 2nd of the game after a nice give and go from Henri Jokiharju who was parked at the point. Sam Reinhart came off the half wall and pushed a pass back to Jokiharju who wasted little time getting the puck back to Reinhart. He found a lane through a clogged net front and narrowed the lead back to 1.
Double dose of Reinhart! 🔥
Samson gets his second of the game to make it 3-2. #NHLGlobalSeries pic.twitter.com/sdbnLtNxpC
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 8, 2019
The Sabres would kill off a late penalty and pull the goalie with a couple minutes left in the 3rd. But even some with decent pressure, they were unable to tie the game up.
Luckily, Buffalo will have their chance for revenge tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 pm as they take on Tampa Bay for the final game of the NHL Global Series.
