How Sabres’ Ilya Lyubushkin became unlikely hero in thrilling win over Lightning

Before Thursday night, Ilya Lyubushkin had just one second of ice time in three-on-three situations in his career, according to Natural Stat Trick. In his sixth NHL season and first with the Buffalo Sabres, Lyubushkin is known for his physical play in his own end, not for his offensive production. He entered this season with three career goals, and he entered the Sabres’ game against the Lightning without a goal this season.

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He couldn’t have picked a better time for his first one. Lyubushkin was on the ice in overtime on the penalty kill. Henri Jokiharju had batted a puck over the glass in the final seconds of regulation to put the Lightning on the power play entering overtime. That looked like a dire situation for the Sabres, given the Lightning’s power play, which ranks No. 3 in the NHL. In the first 1:13 of overtime, Eric Comrie needed to make four saves. And then Lyubushkin made a play to break up a Steven Stamkos shot from the slot. From there, he picked up the loose puck and had one thought: “Just go. Fast as possible.”

He sprinted through the neutral zone and into Tampa’s zone. Lyubushkin is not known as a shooter — so much so that Andrei Vasilevskiy was cheating toward a pass option that wasn’t there when Lyubuskin snapped a shot by his glove to give the Sabres a 6-5 overtime win and two badly needed points in the playoff race.

“It was weird in the sense where you just felt he was going to score,” Sabres coach Don Granato told reporters.

Earlier this week, Granato mentioned that the Sabres’ coaching staff has met with Lyubushkin to get more out of him. He played most of the early part of the season injured but had a chance to get healthier around 2023.

“We felt that he was a lot more capable than he was performing,” Granato said. “We had lots of talks with him and video with him and pushed him just to try to breathe a little bit. I think he’s settled down and settled in, and he’s been very good. By virtue of that, we see more skill. He’s a rugged, hard-nosed defenseman, and he’ll always be, but there is some underlying skill that we’re seeing. We’re seeing a little bit more of that just to make simple plays and reads.”

At the time, the underlying skill portion of that quote seemed out of place. By Thursday, it looked prescient. When Lyubushkin’s goal went in, “The boys went nuts,” Tage Thompson said.

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The Sabres earned the celebration. Two days after a deflating, 6-3 loss at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Sabres needed a response. A road game against a team that has been to the Stanley Cup Final three seasons in a row provided a stiff test for a young team coming off an emotional night. But Granato knew from the moment the Lightning scored to go up 1-0 that his team was ready. The response on the bench told him all he needed to know.

“I just felt tonight there was never any reason to doubt our guys,” he said.

The Sabres erased that one-goal deficit with a goal on a Rasmus Dahlin net-front pass that deflected off Zemgus Girgensons’ skate and into the net. Dahlin was involved with the second goal, too. Midway through the second period, he killed a play in the defensive zone, then immediately dished the puck to Jeff Skinner, who started a three-on-one the other way. He finished it with a pass to Thompson, who buried his first of three goals Thursday.

The Sabres ended up skating to three separate two-goal leads, as the Lightning refused to go away. Late in the third period, Tampa Bay managed to claw back from down 5-3 to tie the score before Lyubushkin’s overtime heroics.

“It was a hell of a ride,” Dahlin said.

Buffalo got big-time performances from Dahlin and Thompson. But it also got goals from rookie Jack Quinn and Girgensons, a fourth-liner. The Sabres got 36 saves from Comrie, who has played only four games since injuring his knee in mid-November. Then Lyubushkin delivered the unlikeliest of overtime goals. He also had four hits, his most in a game since September, and a blocked shot for good measure.

“If you want to go to playoffs, everyone is important,” Lyubushkin said.

Quick hits

1. Thompson’s hat trick came at an ideal time. After a tough loss like the one they had against the Leafs, the Sabres needed their stars to step up. Thompson’s first goal was a one-timer on the odd-man rush. The next two goals came on breakaways. On the first, he beat Vasilevskiy with a snap shot. The next time down, he opened him up with a shot fake and beat him with a deke before sliding the puck through his legs. It’s tough to overstate the energy boost the Sabres get when Thompson is scoring spectacular goals the way he did Thursday. He now has 39 goals with 26 games left in the season. He has a shot to join Danny Gare, Rick Martin, Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny as the Sabres’ only 50-goal scorers.

2. After the Sabres beat the Sharks, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen felt like he was taking hold of Buffalo’s starting goalie job. He allowed four goals on 10 shots against the Leafs before Granato pulled him, but that game felt like one in which poor team defense was more the issue than goaltending. Still, the Sabres’ goalie situation is complicated. Craig Anderson, 41, played well in relief of Luukkonen against the Leafs, but the Sabres have still been hesitant to play him more than once per week at his age. Comrie came up with some big saves late in regulation and in overtime against the Lightning, but he allowed a few tough goals he would like back. Luukkonen hasn’t been the most consistent goalie, but he has been the one most frequently stealing games for the team. This three-goalie dance is not going to be easy for Granato to navigate down the stretch.

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3. Erik Cernak’s hit on Kyle Okposo should draw a suspension. It was a blatant elbow to the face, and Cernak is a repeat offender. The fact it wasn’t called a penalty in the moment was egregious. The Sabres were understandably irate about it. That a player like Cernak, who is a repeat offender, threw an elbow to the head of Okposo, a player with a history of concussions, should make this an easy suspension for the league.

What’s next?

This was a massive win for the Sabres, but the next two games might be even bigger. They’ll play the Panthers on Friday night before traveling home to play the Capitals on Sunday afternoon. Both teams are battling with the Sabres for wild-card positioning.

As it stands, the Sabres are two points behind the Panthers and Red Wings for the final wild-card spot. They have four games in hand on the Panthers and one game in hand on the surging Red Wings. They’re also five points behind the Islanders, but with five games in hand. Buffalo’s playoff math is still favorable, and that makes these next two games even more important.

(Photo: Jason Behnken / Associated Press)