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,

Jake Guentzel had a hat trick, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 6-5 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Bjorkstrand scored on a wrist shot with 18:20 remaining,