Tampa Bay plays Buffalo on 3-game home slide

Buffalo Sabres (26-36-11, sixth in the Atlantic) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (43-20-8, fourth in the Atlantic)

Tampa, Florida; Sunday, 5 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Tampa Bay takes on Buffalo looking to break its three-game home slide.

The Lightning are 24-14-5 against Eastern Conference opponents. Tampa Bay is 10th in the league averaging 3.3 goals per game, led by Steven Stamkos with 32.

The Sabres are 7-12-4 against the rest of their division. Buffalo averages just 3.2 penalties per game, the fewest in the league. Rasmus Dahlin leads them averaging 0.4.

In their last meeting on Jan. 11, Tampa Bay won 6-1. Nikita Kucherov scored three goals for the Lightning.

TOP PERFORMERS: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare leads the Lightning with a plus-22 in 70 games this season. Stamkos has five goals over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.

Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 58 points, scoring 32 goals and adding 26 assists. Jeff Skinner has six goals and six assists over the last 10 games for Buffalo.

LAST 10 GAMES: Lightning: 4-4-2, averaging 2.9 goals, five assists, 4.4 penalties and 10.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game with a .906 save percentage.

Sabres: 4-3-3, averaging 3.5 goals, 5.8 assists, 1.9 penalties and 3.8 penalty minutes while allowing 3.6 goals per game with an .887 save percentage.

INJURIES: Lightning: Ryan McDonagh: out (upper-body).

Sabres: None listed.

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