Tampa Bay ends the season with 3 straight wins, but both teams fail to qualify for the playoffs.
By Corey Long / NHL.com Correspondent
TAMPA, FL. — Brayden Point scored two goals to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Amalie Arena on Sunday.
Braydon Coburn and Victor Hedman also scored for the Lightning (42-30-10), who went 8-1-1 in the past ten games to finish the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in his 23rd win.
William Carrier and Evander Kane scored for Buffalo (33-37-12). Linus Ullmark made 33 saves in his first start of the season.
Point’s game-winning goal came with 1:24 left in the third period. His centering pass deflected off of Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and caught Ullmark out of position to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead.
Kane tied it 2-2 at 11:17 with his 28th goal and 300th NHL point. Brian Gionta made a cross-ice saucer pass to Kane and he easily pushed the puck past Vasilevskiy. It was the Sabres team captain, and Greece native, 20th assist of the season.
Carrier gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 13:56 of the first period when he beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot to the far post. Rookie Alex Nylander picked up his first NHL point with an assist.
The Lightning tied it 1-1 at 5:59 of the second period on Point’s 17th goal. Hedman had the primary assist on the goal for his 300th NHL point.
Coburn gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 12:20 with a shorthanded goal. Alex Killorn pushed the puck to Vladislav Namestnikov to start a 2-on-1 rush and Coburn finished with a chip past Ullmark.
Hedman added an empty-net goal with one second remaining to make it 4-2.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Buffalo TV analyst Brad May said in the post-game show that in his opinion there would be 7 to 9 new faces in the Sabres lineup in the fall.