It has been a while since I put out an NHL play, and I’d like to get a bit more consistent with playing NHL games. There isn’t a huge slate of games tonight, but there are certainly some intriguing ones. Hockey is the one sport that I don’t follow quite as much, but I’ve made concerted efforts over the years to try to follow the regular season closer. It seems like this year has had more big names with trade requests (earlier) too, and has been a pretty exciting early season. Tonight, the Lightning and Sabres battle in one of the better games of the night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a great start with an 11-4-2 record. All four of their losses, though, have been on the road. They are just 3-4-2 for the season on the road. Their offense has looked great this season with a 3.71 goals-per-game average, but they are allowing 3.06 goals per game as well. Their defense probably needs to improve in terms of giving up good looks. They are allowing just 24.7 shots per game, but if they are giving up three goals per game, either the shots are good ones, or the goalie play is lacking.
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) hugs Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak after the Lightning defeated the Bruins during a shootout in a Stadium Series NHL hockey game Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Tampa, Florida. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Over the past five games, the Lightning have won three games and lost the other two, with one in a shootout. Andrei Vasilevskiy is likely to be in the net tonight. He is 8-4-1 for the season and is allowing 2.85 goals per game, which is 24th in the nation. He only has an .883 save percentage, which puts him at 33rd in the league. As a starting goalie, that wouldn’t even rank him as a top option in the league. He has been in the net for all four of the road losses this season as well.
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The Buffalo Sabres are not exactly great to start the season, but they aren’t playing poorly either. For the season, Buffalo is 8-6-3, and only 4-5-0 for the year on their home ice. Their offense has been fine, but not great. The Sabres are scoring just under three goals per game, and they allow 3.29 goals per game. The Sabres are allowing about the same number of shots per game to opponents as they are taking. The Sabres are playing decent enough hockey lately, but they are 1-2 at home in their current home streak.
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson celebrates his goal with defenseman Rasmus Dahlin during the third period against the New York Islanders in Buffalo, New York, on March 31, 2026. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Photo)
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Tonight, they are likely to send the owner of my favorite name in hockey, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, into the net. The 27-year-old Finniard hasn’t been that impressive this season. Luukkonen is allowing 3.27 goals per game, which is 38th in the league. He also has an .878 save percentage this season, putting him at 48th in the league. Just like Vasilevskiy, this makes Luukkonen not even starter-level quality. He has been better at home this season than on the road. In his home games, he is only allowing 2.88 goals per game.
Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) looks on against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second period at T-Mobile Arena. (Candice Ward-Imagn Images)
Neither of the defenses look that good this season, and the goalies are letting a lot of pucks past them. On offense, they are both averaging three goals. Neither has been scoring a ton in recent games, though. Tampa has gone over 6.5 goals in three of the past five games. Buffalo has had seven or more goals in a game in just two of the past five games. I do think this is one that finds at least seven goals between the two teams. Give me the over.
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