Buffalo Sabres plays host to Tampa Bay Lightning in the fourth and final meeting between the two teams
Buffalo Sabres will host Tampa Bay Lightning in what will be the first game of Tuesday at the HSBC Center. This is the fourth and final meeting between the two teams during the course of this season.
Out of the three games that have taken place between the two teams during the season, Lightning won the first two games while Sabres won the third.
The last meeting between the two teams took place on the 8th of February which saw Sabres thrash Lightning by 7-4 with Thomas Vanek scoring the winning goal.
Lightning has been in great form as it has won five straight games and is in good shape to avenge its last defeat.
Lightning will be looking to clinch the Conference, now that it has grabbed a playoff position after its last win over Pittsburgh Penguins, last Thursday.
Sabres has a lot left to be done if it wants to make it to the playoffs for the second season in a row. It has been successful in doing so thus far, as it has won four games out of the last five. A win for Sabres is must as the battle for the final few spots
in the playoffs is heating up.
Ryan Miller, goalkeeper of Sabres, has been in splendid form as he has come up with some brilliant performances that have kept Sabres in the cut.
Miller was injured and there were many expectations from his replacement, Jhonas Enroth, and he certainly met these expectations.
After replacing Miller, Enroth has been in good form as he has come up with seven regulation time wins out of the last 11 games.
"It's huge", Ruff said. "I'm not going to sidestep that one. It was a big win for us [in Raleigh]. They win, and it's a lot different scenario in the standings. Us winning, that gave us a little bit of an edge again".
Sabres has played 79 games during the season out of which it has won 40 games in regulation time and 10 games in overtime to score a total of 90 points.
Lightning has played 79 games during the season out of which it has won 44 games in regulation time and 11 games in overtime to score 99 points.
Lightning was moving down the standing as it came through some tough times that saw it losing four games in a row.
However, it was able to come up with a commanding performance against Hawks, winning the game by 2-0.
"I felt very patient", Smith said. "Every win is rewarding, but the defending champion; when you beat a team like that, it's a little bit more rewarding".
Lightning and Sabres are both in good shape ahead of the game which makes the game all the more exciting.
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