TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored twice to reach the 40-goal mark, NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the Buffalo Sabres 7-4 on Sunday.
Conor Geekie, Ryan McDonagh and Emil Lilleberg also scored for Tampa Bay, and Jonas Johansson made with 21 saves. Brandon Hagel had three assists.
Jiri Kulich, Conor Clifton, Sam Lafferty and Alex Tuch scored for Buffalo. James Reimer stopped 24 shots.
Guentzel put Tampa Bay in front with 3:25 left in the first period. Buffalo took the lead with two goals in the final 30 seconds of the period as Kulich and Clifton scored 15 seconds apart.
But the Lightning scored four times in the second period to pull away. McDonagh tied it at 3:02. Kucherov scored his first of the night at 6:34. Geekie made it 4-2 with 5:39 left, and Lilleberg’s added his first career goal with 3:15 to go for a 5-2 lead.
The teams traded goals in the third period.
Takeaways
Sabres: Buffalo is winless in three games (0-2-1) since a five-game winning streak. … Coach Lindy Ruff remains stuck on 899 career wins and needs one more to join Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Paul Maurice and Barry Trotz as the only coaches with 900.
Lightning: Tampa Bay RW Oliver Bjorkstrand is out week-to-week with an undisclosed lower-body injury suffered on Friday against Detroit. … Kucherov leads the league with 119 points.
Key moment
Kucherov collected a pass off the wall from Victor Hedman and touched the puck around Alex Tuch at the red line to open up space. Kucherov gained the zone with speed and put a shot off the crossbar that hit Reimer and landed in the crease where he poked it in for the go-ahead goal in the second period.
Key stat
Lilleberg scored his first career NHL goal, becoming the sixth Norwegian-born player to score in the NHL.
Up next
Both teams play Tuesday night. Buffalo hosts Toronto, and Tampa Bay hosts Florida.
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