The Tampa Bay Lightning face the Buffalo Sabres with both teams looking to improve in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning have a 12-7-1 record while the Sabres have a 9-12 record and have only won two of their last 10 games. Both teams hope to improve in the division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Lightning are having a promising season behind an offense that is scoring 3.45 goals per game with eight goals in the last two games. Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Steven Stamkos have scored 28 goals and 47 assists to lead the top two lines but the entire offense has been great. Alex Killorn, Nick Paul, and Brandon Hagel have combined for 22 goals and 25 assists while defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Victor Hedman have added five goals and 24 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has struggled, allowing 3.10 goals per game. While Sergachev and Hedman have combined for 2.0 defensive point shares and 87 blocked shots, the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to carry the puck into the offensive zone and find open shots on the net. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy who even in a down year is still putting together a strong season with a .905 save percentage and a 2.94 goals-against average on 462 shots.