In the third period, Kane had scored to bring the Sabres within one goal when he was called for his second, third and fourth penalties all at once, this time for a high stick against Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. Kane received two minutes for the high stick and two more for unsportsmanlike conduct in addition to a 10-minute misconduct.
With 2:17 remaining and the Sabres now shorthanded for four minutes, the call effectively ended their comeback chances in what was then a 3-2 game. Sabres coach Dan Bylsma thought Kane's high stick came on the follow through of his shot, another opinion supported by video replay, and one Kane himself echoed when he spoke after the game.
"I've only played eight years in the League but I'm pretty sure on a follow-through it doesn't matter if you high stick a player or the goalie, especially when the goalies on his knees, your stick comes up and I guess is lifted by one of their defensemen," Kane said. "I guess I was a little confused."
Those controversial calls seemed to bookend the loss for the Sabres, but they weren't the only reason Buffalo saw its four-game point streak snapped on Thursday. After coming out of the first period with a 1-1 tie, the Sabres allowed two goals in the second, one to Palat on a rebound off the pad of Anders Nilsson and another on a 3-on-2 rush play that saw Tampa Bay's two All-Stars, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov., connect.
"Their transition game, their speed in the second period was really evident," Bylsma said. "They capitalize on us on a forecheck where we gave it to the goalie and then they turned it into a 3-on-2 back the other way, Hedman jumps up and that was the type of game we expected them to play."
"We weren't moving our feet," Sabres captain Brian Gionta said. "We weren't doing a good job accepting their speed and we couldn't conversely get anything going on our forecheck. When we got the puck we weren't moving, supporting each other, but we just could never get our feet moving."
The game followed a familiar narrative, one in which the Sabres struggled to the point of desperation before they finally flipped the switch. You could see the tides turning even prior to Kane's goal in the third period, when Jack Eichel and Marcus Foligno produced two of Buffalo's best scoring chances.
It was Eichel who fed Kane in the slot for his 11th goal of the season with 9:30 remaining, putting Kane one goal shy of the team lead.