The Tampa Bay Lightning are not disappointed by a bad road trip, losing the Atlantic Division lead, and squandering a chance to win Sunday in what many regard as the “game of the season.”
Now in second place in the Atlantic, the Lightning have plenty to put behind them as they open a three-game homestand Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It will be hard to put Sunday’s classic aside, though — a brawl-laden, high-scoring game that had the fans in Buffalo rocking.
Tampa Bay rallied from a 4-1 deficit with five straight goals and appeared to be ready to split a four-game road trip. The Sabres, however, rebounded from a pair of two-goal deficits to earn their seventh straight win in a crazy 8-7 classic.
Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel, who recorded a goal and an assist, was fined $5,000 Monday by the NHL for his aggressive role in a bout with Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of things we can tidy up,” Hagel said. “Eight goals (allowed) is obviously easy to clean up for us.”
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he wasn’t pleased with his team surrendering five special-teams goals.
“It was entertaining for the fans, pretty emotional night (for them),” Cooper said. “I’d rather have that than a whole bunch of lack of emotion and fans sitting in their seats.”
The Lightning will take aim at the Blue Jackets to begin a three-game homestand.
Columbus turned its season around with the hiring of Rick Bowness, who replaced fired coach Dean Evason on Jan. 13 and implemented a more defensive-oriented approach.
The Blue Jackets are 13-2-3 since Bowness’ arrival.
In Monday’s home makeup game postponed on Jan. 26 due to a snowstorm that struck the region, Conor Garland scored twice before the visiting Los Angeles Kings recorded a 5-4 win in overtime.
Columbus is two points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Blue Jackets also fell 5-4 in overtime to Utah on Saturday, and they expect a similar high-speed matchup against the Lightning, a speedy squad like the Mammoth.
“We touched on a few things the other day, stuff to clean up,” Columbus assistant coach Jared Boll said before Monday’s overtime loss. “It’s just playing above the puck.”
Columbus has points in six straight games (3-0-3).
Kirill Marchenko netted his team-leading 23rd goal with 1:56 left to force overtime on Monday. The winger has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his last five games.
Dante Fabbro returned after a two-game absence, but Columbus played the final two periods with five defensemen as Erik Gudbranson sustained an upper-body injury and did not return.
Fellow defenseman Denton Mateychuk, 21, recorded his first double-digit goal season with his 10th goal in the second period.
Goaltender Jet Greaves (8-0-2) has a 10-game point streak but yielded the game-winning goal to Adrian Kempe.
