Five-game Sabres recap Jan. 2-12

You couldn't have ended 2019 on a worse note. The Buffalo Sabres rang out the old with a very disappointing loss to the surging Tampa Bay Lighting by the score of 6-4. Tampa scored an empty-netter for the final which capped off a five goal run that erased a 4-1 Buffalo lead.

The set-up to the Tampa game had some weird circumstances as the Sabres didn't forget what Nikita Kucherov and Eric Cernak did to their players in previous meetings. While over in Stockholm, Sweden for the 2019 Global Series, Kucherov submarined an unsuspecting Vladimir Sobotka and sent him to injured reserve. He probably won't be back this season. Just over two weeks later, a high elbow from Cernak connected with Rasmus Dahlin's head resulting in a concussion for the 19 yr. old defenseman. Neither hit was penalize and neither was taken care of on the ice by the Sabres. The Kucherov hit wasn't looked at by the NHL Department of Player Safety while Cernak received a two-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head on Dahlin.