Nikita Kucherov scored three goals in a row in the third period on Wednesday night, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres 8-3 at KeyBank Center after Buffalo had come back to within a goal. Kucherov added an assist for a four-point third period, all of it after the Sabres scored three straight goals and cut a 4-0 deficit to 4-3.
Tampa Bay had taken control early. Scott Sabourin scored at 18:49 of the first period, and John Carlson scored on a power play 49 seconds later for a 2-0 lead at the first intermission. Brandon Hagel made it 3-0 at 4:33 of the second, and Yanni Gourde added a fourth goal at 13:02. Sam O'Reilly, playing his first NHL game, picked up the secondary assist on Gourde's goal for his first point.
The lead then started to slip. Josh Doan scored on a Buffalo power play at 15:54 of the second, and Jason Zucker scored at 19:32 to make it 4-2. Tage Thompson scored 33 seconds into the third period to make it 4-3. The goal was Thompson's 224th with the Sabres, which tied Miroslav Satan for eighth in franchise history.
Kucherov answered 52 seconds later. He went in alone on a breakaway and put a backhand under the arm of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 1:25 to restore a two-goal lead. At 4:11 he scored again on a one-timer set up by Carlson, and Luukkonen was pulled after allowing five goals on 14 shots. Colten Ellis replaced him and stopped five of eight shots. Kucherov finished the hat trick on a power play at 14:13, again assisted by Carlson. Less than a minute later he dropped a pass to Hagel, who scored his second goal of the night at 15:06.
Carlson called Kucherov's first goal of the third period "a huge goal," and said he was no longer surprised by anything Kucherov does, according to NHL.com. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he had liked much of his team's game until it failed to kill a penalty late in the second period, and that the team needed a response after the goal Zucker scored before the second intermission.
The hat trick was Kucherov's eighth in the NHL and his third natural hat trick, the most natural hat tricks in franchise history, according to NHL.com. The eight hat tricks tie Martin St. Louis for second in Lightning history, behind Steven Stamkos with 13.
The game came 12 days after Kucherov asked to be traded. On Oct. 30, TSN's Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun reported that Kucherov had told the Lightning he would not re-sign with the club and had requested a trade. Kucherov, 33, is in the final season of an eight-year, $76 million contract with a $9.5 million cap hit and has a modified no-trade clause. General manager Julien BriseBois said in a statement that the team has "no intention of trading Nikita." Kucherov later said the request came from poor communication and respect, not money, NHL.com reported, and he has stayed in the lineup.
Carlson had a goal and four assists, and the five points gave the defenseman 800 in his NHL career, with 176 goals and 624 assists. Hagel finished with two goals and an assist, Jake Guentzel had four assists, and Anthony Cirelli had three assists in his 600th NHL game. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Tampa Bay lost defenseman Erik Cernak at 14:06 of the second period, when he went into the glass after a hit from Beck Malenstyn. Cooper said Cernak was "probably out tomorrow." The Associated Press reported that center Brayden Point had been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and O'Reilly, who was called up Nov. 10, played in his place.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin was blunt about the third period. "We can't give up 2-on-1s, 3-on-1s, 2-on-1s. We're beating ourselves," he said. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said his team was not good enough as a group and that its defensive structure broke down.
The Lightning, who improved to 12-4-2, have won four of their last five games and are 5-1-2 in their last eight. Buffalo fell to 8-7-3 and has lost three of its last four. Both teams play the second game of a back-to-back on Thursday, with Tampa Bay at the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo at the Chicago Blackhawks.