The Tampa Bay Lightning’s troubles continued Saturday at Buffalo. The Sabers held off a comeback to win 5-3.
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Jon Cooper’s troop, installed in third place in the Atlantic section, hold a comfortable lead over their closest pursuers. His four straight losses and seven losses in his last 10 games, however, saw him lose ground to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who would have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The “Bolts” mostly toil in their own turf these days. They’ve allowed four or more goals in six of their last eight games.
In front of the Florida cage, auxiliary Brian Elliott could not keep his people in the game. He faltered five times in 34 shots, notably yielding to Tyson Jost in numerical inferiority, in the second period.
It was during this engagement that the Sabers took off. Vinnie Hinostroza and Jack Quinn also hit the mark to make it 4-1. Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner also put their two cents in on the big attack.
The Lightning’s reply came from the sticks of Brayden Point, Nick Perbix and Alex Killorn.
Newcomer Tanner Jeannot, acquired from the Nashville Predators, picked up his second point with the Lightning in the loss. He also corrected defenseman Riley Stillman during a furious fight in the middle period.
Lafrenière can’t stop the Bruins
At TD Garden, the Boston Bruins savored a 10th consecutive victory by beating the New York Rangers 4-2.
The Massachusetts team was already the team to beat in the National Hockey League before the trade season. The acquisitions of Dmitry Orlov, Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway, however, seem to have propelled Jim Montgomery’s troupe to a higher level.
Maneuvering as they please at home, where they have a record of 26-2-3, the “Oursons” especially had to be wary of Quebecer Alexis Lafrenière.
Saint-Eustache Pride equaled their single-season points record (31) by scoring twice in defeat. In the second period, he deflected a shot from Jacob Trouba to make it 2-1. Then, late in the game, his wrist shot ricocheted off Derek Forbort before finding the back of the net.
Aided by Bertuzzi, Charlie Coyle opened the scoring for the Bruins. Shorthanded Tomas Nosek doubled the hosts’ lead early in the second period. Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak confirmed the Boston victory in the third period.
Another painful setback for the Red Wings
At UBS Arena, the Detroit Red Wings suffered another crucial loss in the playoff race, losing 4-1 to the New York Islanders.
Derek Lalonde’s men, who came within a hair’s breadth of acquiring James van Riemsdyk before the trade deadline, would have needed the sniper skills of “JVR” in the match of the day.
Only captain Dylan Larkin managed to break through the otherwise perfect Ilya Sorokin’s armor in 23 throws.
The Isles veterans got up in the third period and cheated Magnus Hellberg four times in just 11 attempts. Anders Lee scored twice, while Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri found the back of the net once.