In Tampa, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves to dispel any hint that the Buffalo Sabres were about to break out of their early season swoon. Those 28 saves helped the Lightning defeat the Sabres, 5-2.
Buffalo is 2-8-2 in their last 12 games and they yielded two shorthanded goals on Monday night.
“Very disappointing,” Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said after announcing Dahlin’s injury. “We’ll let the League deal with the judgment of what happened. Right now, we’re just worried about Rasmus and getting him healthy and hoping it’s not a long-term injury.”
Sam Reinhart and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Sabres.
“I tried to get a good jump. I thought I was there,” Vesey said. “I didn’t think there was any way [Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev] was going to pass it. He passed it, so I was able to pounce on it and I thought it was a big goal at the time.”
Nikita Kucherov staked the Bolts to 1-0 lead with just 13 seconds gone on in the game.
Ondrej Palat and Cedric Paquette scored 49 seconds apart on the same penalty in the third period to turn a 3-2 game into the 5-2 final.
“It’s his skating,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Palat. “Whatever he did in the summer, he had to gain a step, and he has. He’s got the grit, the physicality, all that, but he’s picked up a step and it’s worked well for him. This is as good as I’ve seen him play.”
Yanni Gourde and Sergachev also scored for the Lightning.
“It’s our job to get the shots past the first shot blocker down to the net,” Lightning’s Ryan McDonagh said. “Our guys are working hard to get in front of the goalie’s eyes and get to those pucks. We’ve got to continue to work at it. It’s a big area as far as generating offense 5-on-5.”
[WATCH: All Sabres vs. Lightning highlights]
Carter Hutton made 23 saves in the loss/
“We just need to start having a little bit more desperation in our game. It just seems like we’re accepting the fact that we’re losing games right now, and it’s not OK,” Jack Eichel said after the loss.
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