Nikita Kucherov scored his 400th career goal Monday night, but the Tampa Bay Lightning fell 4-2 to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. The 32-year-old center, assisted by Jake Guentzel and Darren Raddysh, added his 43rd goal of the season to reach 126 points, tying him with Connor McDavid for the NHL lead. Kucherov became the second Lightning player to reach the milestone, following Steven Stamkos in 2019.

Buffalo seized control after the power-play goal, with Jason Zucker tipping Bowen Byram's shot for the go-ahead score 7:38 into the second period. Jack Quinn sealed the win with an empty-net goal, assisted by goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 23 shots to improve to 10-2-1 in his last 14 starts. The Sabres never trailed and were greeted by a standing ovation upon returning home after clinching their first playoff berth in 15 seasons.

The loss snapped Tampa's 14-game unbeaten streak (9-3-2) and left them tied with Buffalo atop the Atlantic Division at 102 points, two ahead of idle Montreal entering the final 10 days. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves but fell to 7-2-1 in his last 10 outings.