Lightning salvage a point from tough opening road trip

BUFFALO – The Lightning had far greater aspirations for their first road trip of the season, especially considering it consisted of three games against division teams against whom they will be posturing for points in their fight for a playoff spot.

But given how dangerously close the Lightning were to returning to Tampa with no points on the trip, they were satisfied they could salvage something.

Their 3-2 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday night at KeyBank Center ended with Dylan Cozens scoring the game-winner 1:46 into a 3-on-3 extra session in which the Lightning never touched the puck.

But Brandon Hagel’s overtime-forcing goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation, poking a loose puck inside the near post past Sabres goaltender Devon Levi, allowed the Lightning to take home one point from this trip.

But maybe more importantly, it was a reward for their improved play as the game went on; losses in back-to-back nights in Detroit and Ottawa to open the trip brought them to Buffalo frustrated and disappointed.

“I hope this is kind of a step in the right direction,” said Hagel, who scored both Lightning goals and now leads the team with four.

“There’s ups and downs in the season and we’ll find it. There’s a lot of belief in this room…We want to get the two points but at the end of the day, the effort and everything has just got to continue to be there. And if we do that, I think wins are going to come.”

Playing their second straight game without Steven Stamkos (day-to-day with a lower-body injury), the Lightning found themselves down early, trailing 2-0 less than 16 minutes into the game Zemgus Girgensons slipped past Austin Watson coming in on a line change to open the scoring 8:57 into the game. Then, Owen Power threaded a pass to Jeff Skinner uncovered at the post, and Skinner roofed a shot that Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson could do little to stop with 4:32 left in the first.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper mixed his forwards in the final minutes of the second and it provided a spark. Hagel, who moved to Anthony Cirelli’s line, made it a one-goal game with 2:02 left in the second, snapping a shot in front off a feed from Cirelli, who won possession behind the net.

Forward Alex Barre-Boulet also played well after moving to the top line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov, and by the end of the game, that line had produced the most shots on goal (six) and shot attempts (nine).

“Sometimes that’s just how the coach sees it and he needs to switch something up and it worked out tonight,” Hagel said. “(Barre-Boulet) really stepped up, played very well with Kuch and Pointer. Me and Tony, we do our thing. I love playing with him and we mesh really well together and the other lines stepped up as well.”

Even though the Lightning had only 13 shots through the first two periods, Cooper was pleased with his team effort on Tuesday night. In regulation, the Lightning had only two fewer shot attempts than the Sabres in 5-on-5 play, an indication that they possessed the puck well. Their 22 missed shots hurt, because it limited their ability to get rebounds and sustain pressure in front of the net.

“I’ll tell you, we work,” Cooper said. “Those guys work. I think we’ve been a little bit of a victim of some tough circumstances. ... You’re sitting there 2-0 down in the game, and I just thought we got better and better. I never felt that we were in trouble.

“They deserved for sure a point, maybe two, out of that,” Cooper added. “And so you’ve just got to keep plugging away. This league can humble you. And just you’ve got to have that mental fortitude to fight your way through it, but you look at a lot of what we’ve done as a group, it’s been excellent. We just haven’t been willing to generate what we’ve needed to.”

Johansson (28 saves) gave the Lightning the opportunity to tie the game, stopping the final 20 shots he faced in regulation, including fighting off Kyle Okposo’s breakaway chances in the third period with the Lightning down one — a result of another slow line change,

After Cooper pulled Johansson for an extra attacker inside the final two minutes of regulation, the Lightning struggled to get the puck into the offensive zone. Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev blocked a shot heading for an empty net with 25 seconds remaining, and the Lightning desperately dumped the puck deep and chased.

After Brayden Point made a blind fling to the net, Hagel swatted at the puck under Levi’s left skate.

“I had no idea what time it was,” Hagel said. “Everything kind of was feeling slow motion…I obviously knew that there was not much time left because I know Pointer better than that, that he’d probably try and make a play and settle it down, but he was just chucking it at the net.”

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