TAMPA – Moving on. That's the theme for the Buffalo Sabres after Tuesday's embarrassment against Toronto. That's the mentality they took Thursday in Amalie Arena in advance of their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"I've been angry for a few hours now and counting," coach Don Granato said after today's pregame skate, which stretched into the early afternoon. "You have to have a focus, there has to be a sense of objective. And it's our job as coaches to paint that picture of what needs to be done. It needs to be lined with competitiveness and battle and work. Those are areas that we can make dramatic improvements on over last game."
"It's kind of like a playoff mentality," center Dylan Cozens said. "In a playoff series, you will lose games and you've got to find ways to recover quick and get ready for the next game. So it's all about a quick reset and that's what we're trying to do here."
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The Lightning have won 11 of their last 12 games over Buffalo, including a pair of tight ones in November. They won here, 5-3, in a game that was tied until the final five minutes and rallied for a 6-5 overtime win in KeyBank Center.
Granato has been pleased with how instructive those two games have been for his club and said he wants to see what kind of bounceback he gets from the Toronto disaster.
"When players that are competitive go through a game like that, and that happens, they dial in," Granato said. "And we've seen that in the past. That's where I've said I had confidence that our team would respond the right way after unfortunate outings like that."
Home-Road: The Lightning are on a franchise-record 15-game point streak at home (14-0-1) and are 22-4-2 here this season. The #Sabres, meanwhile, are 17-8-2 on the road – and 14-3-2 in their last 19.
Numbers games: The Sabres have to figure out a way to slow down Tampa's top offensive threats. In two games vs. Buffalo this year, Nikita Kucherov has six assists and seven points. Kucherov is riding an 11-game point streak vs. the Sabres (11-10-21) and has points in 20 of the last 21 meetings.
Former Sabres draft pick Brandon Hagel (2-3-5), Braydon Point (3-1-4) and captain Steven Stamkos (2-2-4) have all done big damage against the Sabres as well.
"They capitalize a lot off mistakes and turnovers," Cozens said. "We've just got to be careful with managing pucks making sure that we're being smart about it. They're too skilled and talented that they'll capitalize if you're not doing that."
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was replaced by Craig Anderson when the Maple Leafs scored their fourth goal on their 10th shot and they left Buffalo with a 6-3 win.
"We have not had much recent success on top lines," Granato said, noting Tuesday's 13-point outburst by the Toronto trio of Ryan O'Reilly, Mitch Marner and John Tavares. "So we do have to make sure we have a better focus on that and have heightened respect for that. That was the case the other night obviously."
Goaltending matchup: The Sabres will go with Eric Comrie (6-8-0, 3.50/.883) against Tampa Bay star Andrei Vasilevskiy (27-14-1, 2.53/.919), who is making his first start of the season against the Sabres. Vasilevskiy is 12-1-1, 1.77/.935 with two shutouts in his career against Buffalo.
On the blueline: Buffalo defenseman Kale Clague, who sat out the Toronto game with a lower body injury, took the morning skate, and Granato said all players are available. A decision will come during the pregame warmup.
