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The hot Tampa Bay Lightning host the struggling Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night in the first meeting this season between the Atlantic Division foes.

When Tampa Bay hosted one of the Eastern Conference’s hottest clubs on Tuesday, the Lightning didn’t get derailed despite a little fatigue, a backup goaltender’s return to the net and a little disappointment that their eight-game winning streak came to an end Monday against the rival Florida Panthers.

The Lightning, who have scored 218 goals and are second in the league at 3.56 goals per game, routed the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 on Tuesday. The Metropolitan Division team arrived in Florida on a four-game winning streak and holding the No. 1 spot in the wild-card standings.

Three-point showings from Victor Hedman and Jake Guentzel — each with two goals and one assist — plus Nikita Kucherov (one goal, two helpers) sparked the offense.

“The result was tough (against Florida), but I was really disappointed we came away with zero points,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose club’s season-high winning streak was snapped in the 2-1 road loss to the Panthers. “It’s always tough when a team (like Columbus) is waiting for you in your hometown when you’re playing on the road.”

Guentzel, who broke an seven-game goal-scoring drought in the Columbus contest, has been an ample replacement for former captain Steven Stamkos (now with Nashville).

Guentzel reached 29 tallies on Tuesday, which puts him on the doorstep of hitting 30 for the fifth time in his nine-year career.

Backup goalie Jonas Johansson moved to 7-5-1 with a 31-save showing against Columbus. He has a 3.15 goals-against average and .895 save percentage.

Tampa Bay keeps making moves to improve, too. The Lightning acquired forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde on Wednesday as part of a three-team swap that involved the Seattle Kraken and Detroit Red Wings. Tampa Bay sent two conditional first-round picks (2026, 2027), a 2025 second-round pick and forward Michael Eyssimont to the Kraken. The first-round picks are top-10 protected. The Lightning also received a 2026 fifth-round pick from Seattle.

On the other end of the spectrum are the Sabres, who are mired in a completely miserable campaign as they play out their 14th straight season without reaching the playoffs.

The last time Buffalo made it was in the 2010-11 season with a team led by forward Thomas Vanek, defenseman Tyler Myers and goaltender Ryan Miller.

The dark times for the Sabres could get worse as the NHL’s trade deadline looms on Friday, though their players available are mostly young and not nearly as enticing as the youngsters 15 years ago.

Center Tage Thompson (team-best 53 points, 30 goals), defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (club-high 39 assists) and netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (20-18-4, 3.06 GAA, .892 save percentage) anchor the current Sabres. The trio has not received much support, even against some of the NHL’s worst teams.

In a battle Tuesday night between the worst clubs in each conference, the San Jose Sharks easily put away the Sabres after a scoreless first period for a 6-2 win in Buffalo.

“Too many passengers tonight,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, whose group was playing its fifth game in eight nights. “They won the compete. They won the puck play game. Our puck play was awful. Just too many guys took the night off.”

Thompson said there were no excuses for losing to the Sharks, who entered the matchup with 11 regulation wins in 62 outings.

“You can sit here and try to make all of the excuses in the world, but when you lace them up in the locker room and you go out, you better battle,” Thompson said after Buffalo’s fourth straight setback. “You better compete. We didn’t. We took tonight off.”

One player perhaps on the move is winger JJ Peterka, an 18-goal scorer who is tied with Dahlin for second with 49 points and has been linked to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

–Field Level Media