THE SERIES: This is the second of four meetings. The Lightning won 2-1 on Nov. 22 at home. Tampa Bay trails 12-25-5-1.
KEY INJURIES: Lightning - Andre Roy (left knee sprain, out); Buffalo - Tim Connolly (concussion, out); Jay McKee (knee sprain, out).
THE LOWDOWN: The Lightning might be happy to see the Sabres, the last team it beat six games ago. Defenseman Pavel Kubina scored twice, once on the power play, and John Grahame made 26 saves in the victory. ... The Lightning is 0-4-2 and has scored six goals in the past six games. ... Tampa Bay is 6-for-69 with a man advantage during the 15 games since Kubina and Dave Andreychuk scored power-play goals in a 2-2 tie against San Jose. The Lightning was 1-for-7 on Thursday in a 4-1 loss to Ottawa. ... Andreychuk, who scored Thursday for the second time this season and first since the San Jose game, returned to center on a line with Ruslan Fedotenko and Dmitry Afanasenkov. ... Buffalo lost 3-2 to Phoenix on Thursday, ending a three-game home win streak. ... Jean-Pierre Dumont and Daniel Briere lead the Sabres with 22 points (nine goals). ... The Lightning might see what real winter is like with two major storm systems set to plow into the Northeast.
