In Tampa,the visiting Buffalo Sabres handed the Lightning a 4-2 loss on Monday night. 
The game was highlighted by Nikita Kucherov’s 99th assist on the season.
The Sabres ended their season at 39-37-6.
Eric Comrie made 31 saves in the win.
“These guys worked so hard for me,” Comrie said. “It hasn’t been a great year for me; everyone knows that. I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs this year – getting sent down and not winning for a long time. It was nice that my hard work and work ethic paid off. Whatever happens to me, it’s been an honor to play with these guys, and an honor to be a Buffalo Sabre.”
Dylan Cozen scored the first of a double at 1:26 of the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to the Sabres, scoring from below the left circle on a rebound.
Steven Stamkos knotted it up at 1-1 with a marker at 2:27 of the middle frame, scoring form the low slot.
“Just sloppy, sloppy, sloppy,” Stamkos said. “We lost another guy [Luke Glendening] tonight, that’s tough to see. Not much to look at that was good tonight. We’ve got one game left to just do the little things right. The stuff that we practice every day in practice. You want to feel good about yourselves heading into the playoffs. Usually the mood is a lot better when you’re winning, so let’s do that.”
The Lightning dropped to 44-29-8
“At times tonight it looked like we just wanted to get out of the game instead of finishing it through,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “The short-handed goal probably popped our bubble a little bit. We were just flat. It looked more like we were just trying to get the game over with and make sure we didn’t lose anybody else.”
After the Stamkos goal, the Sabres potted two more in the second period to take a 3-1 lead.
Cozens collected his double at 5:08, scoring off a shot from the right circle for a 2-1 lead.
“I’m not going to be thinking about much other than not being in the playoffs,” Cozens said. “That’s the biggest thing that will be on my mind. It will be on my mind every day this summer, every time I’m on the ice, every time I’m in the gym. It’s going to be a big summer for a lot of us; we’ve got a lot to prove and we’re hungry.”
Jordan Greenway. pushed the lead to 3-1 at 16:13.
In the third period, the Lightning got a goal from Erik Cernak to trim the deficit to 3-2 at cut it to 3-2 at 9:39.
“We wanted to win these last couple of games,” Tampa’s Nicholas Paul said. “We didn’t do it tonight, so win [Wednesday]. Not just win, but play playoff hockey. Play as a team, eliminate turnovers, limit their time and space, play simple and play hard.”
The Lightning lost any push they had when Zach Benson scored for at 9:54 for the 4-2 final count on the scoreboard.
“A lot of times, you can just mail it in at the end of the season when you’re not going to the playoffs,” Buffalo’s A
lex Tuch said. “But the guys in here all came out, the mindset was to battle hard for our guy [Comrie]. That’s what it came down to.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves in the loss.
PHOTO CREDIT – Bill.Kober@prohockeynews.com
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