Lightning at Sabres preview

LIGHTNING (38-15-3) at SABRES (16-30-10)
7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, SUN, NHL.TV

Domingue, acquired by Tampa Bay in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 14, has not started since Jan. 30, when he made 34 saves in a 3-1 loss at the Winnipeg Jets. He's 2-1-0 with the Lightning in four games (three starts), with a 3.00 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. Andrei Vasilevskiy played Monday in a 4-3 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tampa Bay, 7-4-0 in its past 11 games, has the best record in the NHL and is in first place in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of the Boston Bruins.
Goaltender Chad Johnson will start for the Sabres; he's 3-9-3 with a 3.57 GAA and .886 save percentage in 20 games (15 starts) this season.
Buffalo is 2-1-0 in its past three games after going 4-9-2 in its previous 15.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Yanni Gourde has four goals and five assists during a six-game point streak.
Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"The back-to-backs, they work in funny ways. The one thing I do know is you have to try and get the lead because you don't want to be chasing the game for the second night in a row like we were last night." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper on playing the second of back-to-back games
"When you don't get the chances, it's a tough game and it's tough mentally, too. … lately I have been getting the chances, and that means I have been doing something right." -- Sabres forward Benoit Pouliot, who has scored a goal in two straight games

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Lightning projected lineup

Yanni Gourde -- Steven Stamkos -- Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Matthew Peca
-- Vladislav Namestnikov --
Adam Erne
Chris Kunitz -- Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman -- Anton Stralman
Mikhail Sergachev -- Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn -- Slater Koekkoek
Jake Dotchin
Louis Domingue
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Scratched: Cory Conacher, Cedric Paquette, Andrej Sustr
Injured:Peter Budaj (lower body)

Sabres projected lineup

Benoit Pouliot -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Evander Kane -- Evan Rodrigues -- Kyle Okposo
Scott Wilson -- Johan Larsson -- Jason Pominville
Zemgus Girgensons -- Jacob Josefson --
Nick Baptiste
Marco Scandella --
Casey Nelson
Nathan Beaulieu -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Justin Falk -- Victor Antipin
Chad Johnson
Robin Lehner
Scratched:Jordan Nolan, Josh Gorges
Injured: Jack Eichel (high ankle sprain), Jake McCabe (thumb), Zach Bogosian (hip)

Status report

Tampa Bay held an optional skate; Sustr, Paquette and Conacher were the last skaters off the ice.

Stat pack

Kucherov scored his 30th goal on Monday and is the fourth player in Lightning history to score 30 or more in three straight seasons, joining Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. … Reinhart has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past four games.