Tampa Bay Lightning Look To Extend Win Streak Against Buffalo

By Tasha St. Pierre | Dec 2, 2014

The Tampa Bay Lightning just finished off a season sweep of Rick Nash and the New York Rangers with a definitive 6-3 win at Madison Square Garden. Tonight, the Lightning will look to extend their win streak to five as they head into the First Niagara Center to take on Brian Gionta and the Buffalo Sabres.

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Yes ladies and gentlemen, the Lightning are about to embark on the second half of yet another back-to-back series. For those of you keeping count, this will be the sixth back-to-back series in in twenty six games so far this season. We know…it’s ridiculous, but what are you going to do?

The good news is that the Lightning is pretty skilled at overcoming adversity, so there are no worries on that front.

Now, before you do what a number of teams in the National Hockey League have done this season, we are going to tell you up front, do not underestimate a team like the Buffalo Sabres.

Their win/loss record may not accurately reflect it, but they have plenty of talent on their team to be able to produce a win. Just ask the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres have won their last two games in a row, which were a home-and-home back-to-back series against the Canadiens.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of positives for the Sabres when it comes to the stat sheet; however, the Sabres have been experiencing a lot of the same problems that the Lightning were experiencing earlier in the season. The Sabres have a number of players that are out for various injuries.

According to ESPN, the Sabres should be getting back defenseman Josh Gorges, and they may see the return of center Cody McCormick and right wing Drew Stafford. This could be just what the struggling Sabres need to get back on track.

The good news is that I am pretty sure the Lightning will have something to say about this.

If you have been watching the Lightning play as of late, the chemistry that the lines are forming is nothing short of uncanny. When it comes to the “triplet” line, which consists of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Nikita Kucherov, it is almost like they can read each other’s minds.

Another line which has been forming quite a bit of chemistry lately is the line consisting of Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, and Alex Killorn. This is a different pairing than we are used to, but there is no denying that it is working. My philosophy is when something works like this, you let it be.

Considering that goaltender Ben Bishop got the start between the pipes against the New York Rangers, and faced a pretty solid number of shots, Evgeni Nabokov will more than likely get the start tonight against Buffalo.

While some people have taken to dogging Nabokov for his performance so far this season, this is not really a fair look at his true skill. In most of his performances, he has been playing behind a tired team that has already played numerous games in a short period of time.

Granted, this is a similar situation that the Bolts are in tonight, but the difference maker here is that we have a healthier team that has been ready to go each and every night.

When tonight’s encounter is said and done, the Lightning will head home to the Amalie Arena to get ready to do it all over again. The Buffalo Sabres come into town on Thursday night to face the Lightning again. The only difference here is that they will more than likely be facing down Ben Bishop on Thursday night, who has been incredibly hot this season.

After last night’s performance against the Rangers, what do you expect from tonight’s encounter against the Buffalo Sabres? What do you think the score will be when the final buzzer sounds? Which player do you think will rise above? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. at the First Niagara Center. Make sure you’re ready to Be The Thunder.

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