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

Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster

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

Buy Tampa Bay Hockey Merchandise Below!
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

Buy Buffalo Hockey Merchandise Below!
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 47: Then There Was Nothing – Inside The Rink

Join Conrad and Chris as the discuss Gavin McKenna making the jump to the NCAA, Pittsburgh and San Jose making additions, and the NHL season to begin on October 7, 2025.

1. ITR 47: Then There Was Nothing 32:56
2. ITR 46: Offseason Chaos 24:53
3. ITR 45: Everything Is Happening 37:46
4. ITR 44: We Have A Champion…Again 56:17
5. ITR 43: It's Winning Time 39:10