Monday, 4 a.m.
Coming from behind was kind of cool.
Falling from ahead? That was terrible.
The bad news was worse than the good was. for the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday night. The Bolts were hammered early, came roaring back and then were re-hammered late in an 8-7 loss to Buffalo.
The teams, battling for the top spot in the NHL's Atlantic Division, played one of the wildest games of the year. Buffalo took over the division lead with 84 points, two ahead of Tampa Bay.
Buffalo got off 42 shots in the win, overwhelming Lightning backup goalie Jonas Johansson. The Sabres had several breakaway goals, including a shothander by Alex Tuch.
After falling behind 4-1, the Lightning outscored Buffalo six of the next seven goals. Buffalo, however, scored four of the last four goals.
Nikita Kucherov had two goals for the Bolts Also scoring were Corey Perry, Zemgus Girgesons, J.J. Moser, Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel. For Hagel, it was his 30th goal of the year.
The Bolts return to Benchmark International Arena Tuesday night to play host to the Columbus BlueJackes at 7 p.m.