Pre-game
*Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s eighth of nine sets of back-to-back games this season after the team had a league-high 21 sets last season. The Sabres are 4-2-2 in the first game and 1-5-1 in the second.
*April is the Sabres’ best month since 2005-06; they have a 27-13-3 (.663) April record in that span, including a 4-2-0 record so far this season.
*Today is Buffalo’s ninth and final afternoon game of the season. They are 3-4-1 in the first eight.
After 1st period: TBL 0 – BUF 1
*Tyler Ennis scored his first goal since March 21 vs. TOR.
*Ennis leads all Sabres skaters with seven first-period goals this season.
*With his assist, Thomas Vanek has 36 points (23+13) in 31 career games against the Lightning. It his highest total against any non-divisional opponent.
*Christian Ehrhoff now has a point in consecutive games (1+1). It his seventh point streak this season. His longest streak this year is three games (Jan. 21-25, 0+3).
*Ehrhoff leads all Sabres with a TOI of 8:40. Ehrhoff has averaged a TOI of 25:04 this season, ranking 16th in the NHL entering tonight’s game.
*The Sabres are 13-4-4 when scoring first; the Lightning are 4-16-3 when allowing the first goal.
*Buffalo is 5-2-2 when leading after the first period; Tampa Bay is 1-11-3 when trailing after one.
After 2nd period: TBL 1 – BUF 3
*Jochen Hecht’s goal gives him 27 points (8+19) in 37 career games against the Lightning.
*With his goal, Kevin Porter extended his point streak to a career-best four games (1+3).
*Porter now has seven points (3+4) in his last seven games.
*With his assist on Porter’s goal, Brian Flynn has five points (2+3) in his last seven games.
*Buffalo is 7-0-4 when leading after the second period; Tampa Bay is 2-16-3 when trailing after one.
Final: TBL 1 – BUF 3
*Jhonas Enroth has earned a win in consecutive team games for the first time since Nov. 4, 2011 vs. CGY and Nov. 5, 2011 at OTT.
*Before allowing a goal in the second period, Enroth’s shutout streak of 96:11 was 11:28 short of his career record of 107:39 (Oct. 27 – Nov. 4, 2011).
*Enroth improved to 4-0-1 in his last seven games, with save percentage of .951 and a 1.55 goals against average.
*Christian Ehrhoff led the team with a TOI of 26:00. He has now matched or topped 26 minutes of ice time 15 times this season.
*Three Sabres topped their career highs in ice time tonight: Kevin Porter (18:56), Bryan Flynn (18:32) and Mark Pysyk (18:30). John Scott (10:43) saw his highest TOI of the season.
*With the win, the Sabres improved to 2-5-1 in the second half of a back-to-back set.
