TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ilya Lyubushkin scored a short-handed goal 1:41 into overtime, helping Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 on Thursday night.
With Thompson scoring three times in his fourth hat trick of the season, Buffalo led 5-3 early in the third period. After Tampa Bay rallied, the Sabres got the win when Lyubushkin beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on a breakaway for his first goal of the season.
Zemgus Girgensons and Jack Quinn also scored for Buffalo, and Eric Comrie made 36 saves.
The Sabres are in a six-team battle for the two wild-card playoff berths in the Eastern Conference. They ended a seven-game losing streak at Amalie Arena.
Thompson put Buffalo ahead 2-1 in the second period by scoring on the power play, and then made it 3-1 at 12:20 when he took a pass from Jeff Skinner and beat Vasilevskiy on a breakaway. He scored his career-high 39th goal 6:18 into the third, giving the Sabres a 5-3 lead.
But Tampa Bay made it 5-4 when Anthony Cirelli scored at 8:33, and then tied it with 5:06 remaining when Ross Colton scored a power-play goal.
Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Braydon Point also scored for Tampa Bay. Vasilevskiy made 17 saves but his 12-game home winning streak and his personal six-game win streak against the Sabres both ended.
The Lightning took a 1-0 lead 2:19 into the game when Stamkos beat Comrie with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 rush. But the Sabres tied it at 11:41 on their first shot on goal; Rasmus Dahlin’s shot from the left circle hit Girgensons’ skate in the slot and slid through Vasilevskiy’s five-hole.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Visit Florida on Friday.
Lightning: Play the first of back-to-back road games at Detroit on Saturday.
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