Deadspin | NHL roundup: Sabres beat Lightning, move into tie atop Atlantic 
Apr 6, 2026; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1) makes a save on Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) during the third period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images Jason Zucker broke a tie in the second period and added an assist as the host Buffalo Sabres defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Monday night.
Alex Tuch, Josh Norris and Jack Quinn also scored for the Sabres (47-23-8, 102 points), who snapped a two-game losing streak and moved into a tie with the Lightning atop the Atlantic Division. Defenseman Bowen Byram had two assists and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov got the other goal for Tampa Bay (48-23-6, 102 points), which had won four of its previous five. Defenseman Darren Raddysh had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots.
Zucker gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead 7:38 into the second period when he tipped Byram’s shot from the right point at about waist level. Quinn added an empty-net goal with 1:54 left for Buffalo, which has four games remaining while Tampa Bay has five.
Kings 3, Predators 2 (SO)
Joel Armia and Scott Laughton scored in regulation and Adrian Kempe had the lone goal in the shootout to lift host Los Angeles past Nashville.
Anton Forsberg made 29 saves and did not surrender a goal in the shootout for the Kings (32-26-19, 83 points), who stretched their point streak to four games (3-0-1) and moved a point ahead of the Predators for the second Western Conference wild-card spot.
Roman Josi had a goal and an assist, Steven Stamkos also scored and Juuse Saros made 26 saves for the Predators (36-31-10, 82 points). Nashville had moved into the second wild-card spot with a 5-4 shootout victory in Los Angeles on Thursday and remained there following a 6-3 win at San Jose on Saturday.
Sharks 3, Blackhawks 2
William Eklund scored once and added an assist to pace host San Jose to a comeback victory over Chicago.
Kiefer Sherwood and Will Smith also scored for the Sharks, who have won five of six games and remain two points out of a playoff spot. Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.
Frank Nazar collected one goal and one assist while Ryan Donato tallied for the Blackhawks, who have one win in seven games (1-5-1). Spencer Knight stopped 20 shots.
Jets 6, Kraken 2
Kyle Connor scored two goals and Mark Scheifele had three assists in Winnipeg’s win over visiting Seattle as the Jets try to remain within range of a playoff spot.
The Jets improved to 6-2-0 in their past eight games. This hot streak has put Winnipeg (34-31-12, 80 points) three points back of the final Western Conference wild-card berth. Gabriel Vilardi and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 of 24 shots.
The Jets went 3-for-3 on the power play, winning the battle of struggling special-teams units. Winnipeg entered Monday with the fifth-worst power-play percentage (17.22%) in the NHL, while Seattle’s 72.77% penalty-kill percentage ranked second worst in the league. At 32-33-11 (75 points), the Kraken are eight points back of the final West wild-card spot.
–Field Level Media
#Deadspin #NHL #roundup #Sabres #beat #Lightning #move #tie #atop #Atlantic
Apr 6, 2026; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1) makes a save on Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) during the third period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images Jason Zucker broke a tie in the second period and added an assist as the host Buffalo Sabres defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Monday night.
Alex Tuch, Josh Norris and Jack Quinn also scored for the Sabres (47-23-8, 102 points), who snapped a two-game losing streak and moved into a tie with the Lightning atop the Atlantic Division. Defenseman Bowen Byram had two assists and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov got the other goal for Tampa Bay (48-23-6, 102 points), which had won four of its previous five. Defenseman Darren Raddysh had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots.
Zucker gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead 7:38 into the second period when he tipped Byram’s shot from the right point at about waist level. Quinn added an empty-net goal with 1:54 left for Buffalo, which has four games remaining while Tampa Bay has five.
Kings 3, Predators 2 (SO)
Joel Armia and Scott Laughton scored in regulation and Adrian Kempe had the lone goal in the shootout to lift host Los Angeles past Nashville.
Anton Forsberg made 29 saves and did not surrender a goal in the shootout for the Kings (32-26-19, 83 points), who stretched their point streak to four games (3-0-1) and moved a point ahead of the Predators for the second Western Conference wild-card spot.
Roman Josi had a goal and an assist, Steven Stamkos also scored and Juuse Saros made 26 saves for the Predators (36-31-10, 82 points). Nashville had moved into the second wild-card spot with a 5-4 shootout victory in Los Angeles on Thursday and remained there following a 6-3 win at San Jose on Saturday.
Sharks 3, Blackhawks 2
William Eklund scored once and added an assist to pace host San Jose to a comeback victory over Chicago.
Kiefer Sherwood and Will Smith also scored for the Sharks, who have won five of six games and remain two points out of a playoff spot. Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.
Frank Nazar collected one goal and one assist while Ryan Donato tallied for the Blackhawks, who have one win in seven games (1-5-1). Spencer Knight stopped 20 shots.
Jets 6, Kraken 2
Kyle Connor scored two goals and Mark Scheifele had three assists in Winnipeg’s win over visiting Seattle as the Jets try to remain within range of a playoff spot.
The Jets improved to 6-2-0 in their past eight games. This hot streak has put Winnipeg (34-31-12, 80 points) three points back of the final Western Conference wild-card berth. Gabriel Vilardi and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 of 24 shots.
The Jets went 3-for-3 on the power play, winning the battle of struggling special-teams units. Winnipeg entered Monday with the fifth-worst power-play percentage (17.22%) in the NHL, while Seattle’s 72.77% penalty-kill percentage ranked second worst in the league. At 32-33-11 (75 points), the Kraken are eight points back of the final West wild-card spot.
–Field Level Media
![Why NFL’s Proposed 18-Game Schedule Doesn’t Make Sense | Deadspin.com Before the NFL turned its attention to the upcoming draft, the offseason chatter was heavy on whether or not the league should expand its schedule from 17 to 18 regular season games. That subject was a popular topic at the annual league meeting in March.There’s no doubt an 18-game regular season schedule is what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants. That would increase revenue – remember, it’s always about money – and allow the league to move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend. It would likely mean the NFL would add international games (one for each team) and perhaps another streaming service as well.It would also mean reducing the preseason from three games to two, and (hopefully) adding a second bye week.“I like it for the long-term growth and development of the league – to keep our league healthy and grow revenue,” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told reporters at the league meeting. “I think preseason games have not been what (they) used to be.“It would allow us to also grow the game internationally,” Kraft continued. “Every team in the league would play a game overseas. I think it would be a lot more exciting to the fans to have an extra game rather than the way our preseason games stack up.”Why NFL’s 18th game is a bad ideaTypically, more football is a good thing. In terms of adding an 18th regular season game, however, more would be less.Of the four major sports the NFL has the most meaningful regular season. Why? Because it plays the fewest regular season games. Each NFL contest carries more weight than a game in the NBA, NHL or MLB.The NFL went from 16 to 17 regular season games in 2021. Lengthening the season in any way would be adding to an already saturated product.Don’t fall for the talk that eliminating a preseason game and adding a game to the regular season is an even trade, since key players typically see little playing time during the preseason. That’s like comparing apples to dump trucks.Another strong argument against going to an 18-game schedule is player health. NFL bodies are already being pushed to the limit. The fear here is that adding to the regular season would be the tipping point that leads NFL players to start taking games off, like you see in today’s NBA.NFL load management? No thanks.“From playing in the league, and I played 16 [games], it was a long season,” Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “So to play 17 is long, 18 is just adding more games. It’s definitely harder on the players. You think about the guys, and if you see what guys go through on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis, just to get ready for football games, adding another game is definitely going to be hard on the players.“It’s not my decision to make, but just my perspective and what these guys have to go through and what they put their bodies through, it’ll be really tough to ask the guys to go do another one.”Like having an extra dessert, an 18-game regular season schedule would be too much of a good thing. #NFLs #Proposed #18Game #Schedule #Doesnt #Sense #Deadspin.com](https://i3.wp.com/lineup-publishing.s3.amazonaws.com/1775918065280?ssl=1 "Why NFL’s Proposed 18-Game Schedule Doesn’t Make Sense | Deadspin.com Before the NFL turned its attention to the upcoming draft, the offseason chatter was heavy on whether or not the league should expand its schedule from 17 to 18 regular season games. That subject was a popular topic at the annual league meeting in March.There’s no doubt an 18-game regular season schedule is what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants. That would increase revenue – remember, it’s always about money – and allow the league to move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend. It would likely mean the NFL would add international games (one for each team) and perhaps another streaming service as well.It would also mean reducing the preseason from three games to two, and (hopefully) adding a second bye week.“I like it for the long-term growth and development of the league – to keep our league healthy and grow revenue,” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told reporters at the league meeting. “I think preseason games have not been what (they) used to be.“It would allow us to also grow the game internationally,” Kraft continued. “Every team in the league would play a game overseas. I think it would be a lot more exciting to the fans to have an extra game rather than the way our preseason games stack up.”Why NFL’s 18th game is a bad ideaTypically, more football is a good thing. In terms of adding an 18th regular season game, however, more would be less.Of the four major sports the NFL has the most meaningful regular season. Why? Because it plays the fewest regular season games. Each NFL contest carries more weight than a game in the NBA, NHL or MLB.The NFL went from 16 to 17 regular season games in 2021. Lengthening the season in any way would be adding to an already saturated product.Don’t fall for the talk that eliminating a preseason game and adding a game to the regular season is an even trade, since key players typically see little playing time during the preseason. That’s like comparing apples to dump trucks.Another strong argument against going to an 18-game schedule is player health. NFL bodies are already being pushed to the limit. The fear here is that adding to the regular season would be the tipping point that leads NFL players to start taking games off, like you see in today’s NBA.NFL load management? No thanks.“From playing in the league, and I played 16 [games], it was a long season,” Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “So to play 17 is long, 18 is just adding more games. It’s definitely harder on the players. You think about the guys, and if you see what guys go through on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis, just to get ready for football games, adding another game is definitely going to be hard on the players.“It’s not my decision to make, but just my perspective and what these guys have to go through and what they put their bodies through, it’ll be really tough to ask the guys to go do another one.”Like having an extra dessert, an 18-game regular season schedule would be too much of a good thing. #NFLs #Proposed #18Game #Schedule #Doesnt #Sense #Deadspin.com")
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