Lightning at Sabres
Sabres 8, Lightning 7 · first star Josh Doan (2 G, 0 A).
2025-26 regular season · Preseason. The 2026-27 regular season starts Sep 29. Data as of September 28, 2026, source NHL.
Tampa Bay Lightning 7 at Buffalo Sabres 8
Shot chart
Every shot attempt, computed from the league's play-by-play coordinates. Lightning attack left, Sabres attack right, all periods folded onto one rink. Attempts are plotted where the league recorded them, so a mark in a team's own end would be an attempt logged from there (none in this game). Boxscore shots on goal: TBL 28, BUF 42.
Shots by period
| Period | TBL SOG | TBL G | BUF SOG | BUF G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 6 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| 2nd | 10 | 4 | 15 | 3 |
| 3rd | 13 | 3 | 17 | 4 |
| Total | 29 | 7 | 42 | 8 |
Shots by situation
| Situation | TBL SOG | TBL G | BUF SOG | BUF G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Even strength | 26 | 6 | 30 | 3 |
| Power play | 3 | 1 | 10 | 4 |
| Short-handed | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Attempt share by period
Lightning took 50.8% of the shot attempts, and 52.3% of the 88 attempts taken at 5-on-5. An attempt is a goal, a shot on goal, a miss or a blocked shot; CF% is the share of them belonging to the Sabres and FF% their share of the ones that were not blocked, so the Lightning hold the remainder. All situations unless the 5-on-5 figure is named. All 32 teams
| Period | BUF CF% | BUF FF% |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 47.2 | 47.8 |
| 2nd | 48.8 | 57.1 |
| 3rd | 51.1 | 55.0 |
| Game | 49.2 | 54.1 |
Team totals only: per-player on-ice numbers need shift data, which this source does not publish.
Scoring summary
1st period
- 08:26
Josh Doan (20) PP Tage Thompson (33), Bowen Byram (23) · wrist 0–1
2nd period
- 02:15 Jason Zucker (18) PP Rasmus Dahlin (43), Tage Thompson (34) · snap 0–2
- 05:10 Alex Tuch (26) PP Tage Thompson (35), Noah Ostlund (14) · tip-in 0–3
- 07:55
Corey Perry (13) Nikita Kucherov (69), Darren Raddysh (39) · backhand 1–3 - 11:07 Alex Tuch (27) SH Bowen Byram (24) · backhand 1–4
- 12:26 Nikita Kucherov (33) PP Darren Raddysh (40) · wrist 2–4
- 14:46 Zemgus Girgensons (8) Yanni Gourde (16), J.J. Moser (16) · snap 3–4
- 17:37 J.J. Moser (6) Conor Geekie (2) · wrist 4–4
3rd period
- 00:59 Nikita Kucherov (34) Brandon Hagel (29), J.J. Moser (17) · snap 5–4
- 05:46 Brayden Point (16) Unassisted 6–4
- 06:12 Sam Carrick (5) Zach Benson (21), Michael Kesselring (2) · wrist 6–5
- 09:48 Brandon Hagel (30) Anthony Cirelli (23), Darren Raddysh (41) · wrist 7–5
- 11:03 Rasmus Dahlin (13) Tage Thompson (36), Bowen Byram (25) · wrist 7–6
- 14:29 Jason Zucker (19) Ryan McLeod (33) · backhand 7–7
- 15:43 Josh Doan (21) PP Jason Zucker (15), Rasmus Dahlin (44) · wrist 7–8
Three stars
-
Josh Doan BUF · R #91 · 2 G, 0 A -
Jason Zucker BUF · L #17 · 2 G, 1 A -
Tage Thompson BUF · C #72 · 0 G, 4 A
Penalties
| Time | Team | Player | Infraction | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:36 | TBL | Darren Raddysh | slashing | 2 |
| 04:36 | TBL | Brandon Hagel | boarding | 2 |
| 04:36 | TBL | Darren Raddysh | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 04:36 | BUF | Rasmus Dahlin | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 08:20 | TBL | Erik Cernak | interference | 2 |
| 08:54 | BUF | Sam Carrick | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 08:54 | TBL | Scott Sabourin | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 09:13 | TBL | Charle-Edouard D'Astous | roughing | 2 |
| 09:13 | BUF | Bowen Byram | roughing | 2 |
| 09:13 | TBL | Brandon Hagel | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 09:13 | BUF | Peyton Krebs | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 09:13 | BUF | Bowen Byram | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 09:13 | TBL | Charle-Edouard D'Astous | misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 10:40 | BUF | Mattias Samuelsson | slashing | 2 |
| 10:40 | TBL | Nikita Kucherov | slashing | 2 |
| 14:59 | TBL | Erik Cernak | unsportsmanlike conduct | 2 |
| 14:59 | BUF | Michael Kesselring | unsportsmanlike conduct | 2 |
| 16:41 | BUF | Noah Ostlund | unsportsmanlike conduct | 2 |
| 00:02 | BUF | Michael Kesselring | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 00:02 | TBL | Erik Cernak | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 00:06 | TBL | Corey Perry | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 00:06 | BUF | Beck Malenstyn | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 01:31 | TBL | Ryan McDonagh | high sticking | 2 |
| 03:35 | TBL | Brandon Hagel | roughing | 2 |
| 03:35 | TBL | Brandon Hagel | roughing | 2 |
| 10:56 | BUF | Owen Power | high sticking | 2 |
| 15:03 | TBL | Zemgus Girgensons | slashing | 2 |
| 20:00 | TBL | Anthony Cirelli | charging | 2 |
Boxscore
Tampa Bay Lightning
| Player | G | A | PTS | SOG | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nikita Kucherov #86 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 19:15 |
 J.J. Moser #90 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 26:17 |
 Darren Raddysh #43 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 23:13 |
 Brandon Hagel #38 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16:42 |
 Brayden Point #21 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17:13 |
 Zemgus Girgensons #28 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15:48 |
 Corey Perry #10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 08:54 |
 Anthony Cirelli #71 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18:55 |
 Conor Geekie #14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 07:33 |
 Yanni Gourde #37 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18:39 |
 Jake Guentzel #59 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17:44 |
 Oliver Bjorkstrand #22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14:02 |
 Pontus Holmberg #29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13:17 |
 Scott Sabourin #46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 04:17 |
 Charle-Edouard D'Astous #51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18:37 |
 Erik Cernak #81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 06:47 |
 Ryan McDonagh #27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20:41 |
 Victor Hedman #77 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20:07 |
| Goalie | DEC | SA | GA | SV% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonas Johansson #31 | L | 42 | 8 | .810 | 58:54 |
Buffalo Sabres
| Player | G | A | PTS | SOG | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tage Thompson #72 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 19:39 |
| Jason Zucker #17 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 16:42 |
 Rasmus Dahlin #26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 26:16 |
 Bowen Byram #4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 20:12 |
 Alex Tuch #89 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 18:54 |
| Josh Doan #91 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 18:25 |
 Sam Carrick #10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 06:03 |
 Noah Ostlund #86 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16:34 |
 Ryan McLeod #71 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 21:03 |
 Zach Benson #6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14:15 |
 Michael Kesselring #8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 06:03 |
 Josh Norris #9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17:55 |
 Peyton Krebs #19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 08:46 |
 Beck Malenstyn #29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 06:03 |
 Jack Quinn #22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15:19 |
 Mattias Samuelsson #23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24:57 |
 Owen Power #25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27:08 |
 Zach Metsa #73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 08:55 |
| Goalie | DEC | SA | GA | SV% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen #1 | W | 28 | 7 | .786 | 59:21 |
SOG shots on goal · BLK blocked shots · FO% faceoff win percentage · EV / PP saves over shots by strength. Skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Source NHL (boxscore, play-by-play, game summary). Shot locations are the league's tracked coordinates; the chart and the situation tables are computed by Play-Pause Hockey. Data as of 2026-09-28.