NHL Game Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres with Line Combinations 4/5/2025

Tampa Bay Lightning (44-26-5, 93 Pts) at Buffalo Sabres (32-36-6, 70 Pts)

Venue: KeyBank Center
Date: Saturday, April 5
Time: 7:00 pm EST
TV: ESPN+/FDSSUN/MSG-B
Radio:
Tampa Bay – 102.5 The Bone
Buffalo – 550 WGR

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:

Tampa Bay -1.5 ML -218
Buffalo +1.5 ML +180
O/U 6.5

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Tampa Bay Lightning News & Notes:

The Lightning had their four game winning streak snapped on Thursday in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. They are 7-3-0 in their last ten games, averaging 4.1 goals per game while allowing 2.1 goals per game. 

Buffalo Sabres News & Notes:

The Sabres won their second straight on Tuesday as they beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2. They’ve won five of their last six games, averaging 5.3 goals per game while allowing an average of 3.7 goals per game. 

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Guentzel-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Paul
Bjorkstrand-Gourde-Goncalves
Girgensons-Glendening-Raddysh

Hedman-Moser
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Perbix

Johansson
Vasilevskiy

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Tampa Bay Hockey – Inside The Rink

Buffalo Sabres Projected Lines

Benson-Kulich-Thompson
Peterka-McLeod-Quinn
Zucker-Krebs-Tuch
Malenstyn-Ostlund-Lafferty

Samuelsson-Dahlin
Power–Bernard-Docker
Clifton-Byram

Reimer
Luukkonen

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Buffalo Hockey – Inside The Rink

Players To Watch:

Tampa Bay Lightning

Jake Guentzel this season has 74 points on 38 goals and 36 assists. He’s faced the Sabres 26 times in his career, recording 23 points on 13 goals and ten assists; he recorded a hat trick in their lone meeting of the season. 

Buffalo Sabres

Rasmus Dahlin this season has 59 points on 14 goals and 45 assists. He’s faced the Lightning 19 times in his career, recording 13 points on three goals and ten assists; in their lone meeting he has a goal and an assist. 

Injury Report:

Tampa Bay Lightning

C Anthony Cirelli – DTD

Buffalo Sabres

C Josh Norris – DTD
LW Jordan Greenway – DTD

Next Game

Tampa Bay – April 7 at New York Rangers 
Buffalo – April 6 vs Boston Bruins

ITR 36: Coaching Carousel – Inside The Rink

Join Conrad and Chris as they discuss another batch of coaching departures and update on the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

1. ITR 36: Coaching Carousel 48:56
2. ITR 35: Round One 52:27
3. ITR 34: End Of The Road 41:46
4. ITR 33: The Gr8 One 44:20
5. ITR 32: The Final Countdown 45:55