Elliott, Lightning shut out Sabres, gain in Atlantic Division

TAMPA -- Brian Elliott made 28 saves, and the Tampa Bay Lightning moved into third place in the Atlantic Division with a 5-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

It was Elliott's first shutout this season in his 14th start.
"The guys really pushed, and you could tell they were really trying to get that for me at the end," Elliott said. "It's awesome to play behind them."
Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist to help the Lightning (44-20-8) end a four-game skid (0-2-2) and move one point ahead of the Boston Bruins, who lost 4-2 at the Washington Capitals earlier Sunday.
"If you can get contributions all through the lineup, it helps your cause," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We didn't have to depend on special teams. We only took one penalty tonight. That's what we need to do. It was nice to see everyone contributing tonight."

Craig Anderson made 23 saves for the Sabres (26-37-11), who have lost three straight games.
"We were clearly not ourselves tonight," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "You can look at the chances we created; we had some extreme golden opportunities to score, but just couldn't convert. Their goaltender played well, but I think we made him look even better."
Corey Perry gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 9:21 of the first period with a wrist shot from above the hash marks, and Palat scored 17 seconds later on a 3-on-1 rush at 9:38 to make it 2-0.
It was Palat's first goal since Jan. 11 (29 games), also against the Sabres.
"It's nice to score again, it's a good feeling," Palat said. "I was just trying to work hard, play like I'm doing every game and do the little things right. There was going to be someday that I was going to score. I'm glad it was today."
Brandon Hagel scored at 1:12 of the second period with a backhand rebound of a shot from Anthony Cirelli to give Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead.
Nikita Kucherov made it 4-0 at 4:28 with a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Ryan McDonagh, who missed the previous eight games because of an upper-body injury.
"Thankfully, I was able to get a couple of practices in with the guys and feel confident enough to get back in the lineup," McDonagh said. "We had a great first period. Maybe they had a push there in the second when Elliott made some great saves, but then we had a great third period and that's a great sign for us."

Cooper said the difference in the Lightning defense was noticeable in McDonagh's return. He had one assist and one shot on goal in 19:09 of ice time.
"He's a stabilizer back there," Cooper said. "It was nice for him to be back in the lineup and then to play with the lead, because it feels like we haven't played with a lead in some time."
Ross Colton scored at 2:09 of the third period with a one-timer from the low slot for the 5-0 final.
"I just thought we sat back," Buffalo forward Kyle Okposo said. "We just got tight, and I think that's been an uncharacteristic thing for our team in the last month and a half. When we've given up goals, we haven't really sat back and haven't changed the way we played. We just were too hesitant in the first period."
NOTES:Tampa Bay has not lost five in a row since March 2-10, 2014. … It was Elliott's first shutout since Feb. 21, 2021, also against the Sabres while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers. Five of his 43 NHL shutouts have been against Buffalo. … Kucherov, who was plus-3, has scored in four of the past five games and has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in the past eight. … Buffalo forward Cody Eakin was a late scratch because of an undisclosed injury. ... Defenseman Owen Power, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Sabres, participated in the morning skate and will make his debut Tuesday at the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Buffalo defenseman Mattias Samuelsson was minus-4 in 21:28.