Sabres unable to capitalize on chances in loss to Lightning

TAMPA - Brian Elliott lunged to his left and caught a piece of Rasmus Asplund's one-time attempt, the last of several chances the Sabres had to score the first goal inside Amalie Arena on Sunday.
The Lightning pulled ahead less than a minute later with goals scored 17 seconds apart by Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat. Elliott went on to post a 27-save shutout in the Lightning's 5-0 win.
"We just clearly were not ourselves," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "When you look at even the chances we generated, we had some extreme golden opportunities to score. We just couldn't convert. And their goaltender played well but I think we made him look even better. And that was the game.
"There's going to be separation when you miss the chances we had early. It's like a free pass because you're not holding the other tea m accountable for some of their mistakes."

Tampa Bay doubled its lead within the first five minutes of the second period on goals from Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov.
Ross Colton added the final Lightning goal early in the third period.
The loss ended a string of tight contests by the Sabres, who had not lost by more than two goals since a 6-1 defeat in Edmonton on March 17. They won the following night in Calgary to begin an eight-game point streak.
Buffalo dropped the opening two games of its current road trip against Eastern Conference contenders in Carolina and Florida, but both were one-goal contests late.
"This was the first game in a very, very long time we didn't come to our identity that we want to be as a group, and that is work hard and make the other team make mistakes," Asplund said. "I think that was uncharacteristic of us to not be like that today."

The Sabres did have chances even after the Lightning jumped ahead. Scoring chances at even strength were 29-26 in their favor, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"It's a sign of fatigue, emotional drain, goes in those categories," Granato said. "And then the execution on the defensive side, there's lapses there. When you have errors in so many different categories, it's usually fatigue."
The Sabres have a practice day to regroup before concluding their road trip in Toronto on Tuesday. They beat the Maple Leafs twice in March, including a victory in the Heritage Classic that came on the heels of a similarly one-sided loss to the Panthers.
"We've just got to learn from it," alternate captain Kyle Okposo said. "We've got to have a good day tomorrow and we're playing a pretty high-flying team that I'm sure is gonna want a piece of us Tuesday. We've got to be ready, but we've got to respond."

Eakin scratched with soreness

Cody Eakin did not play due to soreness, Granato said. The forward has not been ruled out for practice on Monday.
Anders Bjork replaced Eakin in the lineup and skated

Up next

The road trip concludes in Toronto on Tuesday. Owen Power, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, is expected to make his NHL debut.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7.