The Sabres had the Lightning teetering on the ropes as late as 2:17 to go in the second period. Leading 5-3 at that point, the blue and gold coughed up three-consecutive goals at Amalie Arena and dropped its fifth-straight game in the process.

It was far from pretty and, in fact, the Lightning’s 6-5, comeback win over the Sabres Thursday night was wildly bizarre. Though Tampa Bay was lulled into a sloppy, wide-open game by a Buffalo team with high-skill scorers but a porous defense,

Guentzel’s second goal of the game cut it to 5-4 at 17:43, scoring from close range off a pass from Brayden Point. He completed the hat trick at 18:46 with a power-play goal to tie it 5-5, a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Brandon Hagel.