The more rested Lightning had the bulk of the chances early, and they turned a Sabres giveaway into a Nikita Kucherov goal. Ellis was Buffalo’s best player as he made 12 saves in the first period, including five on high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

The Buffalo Sabres dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night after surrendering a tying goal in the final seconds of regulation and a breakaway winner in the extra period.

Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk is making a big declaration after losing to the Sabres. Florida has dropped four straight.

The Bolts host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. inside Benchmark International Arena. The Lightning are 17-1-1 over their last 19 games.

Jake Guentzel leads the Lightning in high-danger chances over the past five games, but only scored in one of them. Playing for a sizable home favorite in a game with a 6.5 total, this is a good spot for him to find twine. The Lightning are a strong shot suppression team, but that shouldn’t matter too much for Jason Zucker.

His play in Buffalo’s close loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday was the latest example. He scored an early game-tying goal, letting out an animated first pump to celebrate. The Sabres had an 18-9 advantage in scoring chances during Power’s five-on-five minutes as he controlled play in the offensive zone.

The Lightning trailed by four goals in the second period before rallying for a 6-5 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Sunday. Jake Guentzel netted the only goal in the shootout at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Goalie gets 11th win in past 12 starts, Krebs has 3 points for Buffalo; Bennett leaves with upper-body injury for Florida