<![CDATA[ Brayden Point scored in the shootout and Nikita Kucherov went schoolyard and beat Robin Lehner to win the game 2-1 for the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center last night.

Bolts backstop Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in regulation, and then stopped Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel in the shootout to give the Lightning their third win in four games.

Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly finally broke the ice at 19:48 by scoring his 15th goal of the season, assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen (35) and Jack Eichel (26). O’Reilly ripped a shot from the right circle for the power play goal that eluded Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Shots after 20 minutes were 15-8 in favor of the Sabres.

Tyler Johnson tied it late in the second period, scoring his 19th from Victor Hedman (43) and Nikita Kucherov (35).  Johnson scored on a beautiful back post tip-in.

Tha assist was Kucherov’s sixth straight game with a point. Hedman also extended his point streak to five games.

Hedman set a new career high for assists (43) in a season and matched his career high for scoring (55) with 18 games to go.

Shots after two periods were 24-18 in favor of Buffalo.

The third period went scoreless and the game headed to overtime with the Bolts having to kill 1:16      of a penalty.

The overtime went scoreless and the game headed to a shootout.

Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov score in the shootout to win it 2-1 for the Bolts who HAD to have two points tonight.

Shots for the game ended up at 32 for each team.

The Lightning (30-26-8) are three points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference

Tyler Johnson on the Kucherov shootout goal, “That’s ballsy. That’s a goal that’s going to be on YouTube forever.” Kucherov said he practices that shot all the time.

Nikita Kucherov tries that move in practice often. “Usually it works,” Victor Hedman said. “I was surprised to see that move (in shootout).”

Lehner on Kucherov shootout goal: “He did it on purpose. What can I say? Bad by me, pretty sick by him.”

Coach Cooper on Nikita Kucherov’s shootout move: “He brought the schoolyard to the big stage. Special players can do special things. But I’ll tell you what, you better score on that. And he did.””

BUFFALO, NY – MARCH 04: Tampa Bay Lightning players celebrate their 2-1 shootout victory against the Buffalo Sabres in an NHL game at the KeyBank Center on March 4, 2017 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)

Tampa Bay will host the Rangers on Monday at 7:30.

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