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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Tampa Bay Lightnings offense looks fine so far minus captain Steven Stamkos.A few acrobatic saves by goalie Ben Bishop didnt hurt either.Nikita Kucherov scored to increase his team-leading point total to 22, and Alex Killorn snapped a 10-game goal drought in leading a the Lightning to a 4-1 victory over the injury-depleted and scoring challenged Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.Tampa Bay won its third straight, and improved to 6-2-1 in its past nine in its first game since Stamkos was sidelined by a torn ligament in his right knee.Obviously, were going to miss him. Hes a great leader. Its just one of those things where youve got to step up, said Bishop, who stopped 32 shots. Youve got to go more as a team effort because you cant rely on your big dog to come through. ... But weve got a lot of big dogs here.The Lightning were certainly barking with a spread-out attack that also included goals from Nikita Nesterov and Brayden Point, while Valtteri Filppula set up two goals with no-look passes.Its a necessary approach for a team that will be missing its two-time NHL scoring champion, who is expected to be sidelined for four months after having surgery earlier in the day.We know the drill and its going to be up to certain guys to kind of fill it up, said Killorn, who also had an assist. Thats 40 goals a year, and weve got to kind of make up for it.Its a different story for Buffalo, which continues to struggle to overcome its growing number of injuries.The Sabres are winless in their past six (0-4-2), a stretch in which theyve managed just six goals.It must be a joke right now: If you score two goals against the Buffalo Sabres youre going to win the game, forward Evander Kane said. Weve got to end that.Buffalo is playing without two top-line forwards, Ryan OReilly (mid-section) and Jack Eichel (left ankle), and two regular defensemen, Zach Bogosian (knee) and Dmitry Kulikov (lower back).Except for defenseman Cody Franson scoring on the power play, the Sabres couldnt buy a goal against Bishop.The most telling moment came a little over three minutes into the second period, when Bishop played the puck behind his own net and inexplicably sent a pass through the middle. The puck landed directly on the stick of Sabres forward Kyle Okposo, who snapped a shot at the wide-open net.Bishop, however, scrambled back and dived across the crease to glove the shot.Its a 1-0 game at that point and I just though he was completely out of it and wanted to make sure I settled it for a half second and shot it, Okposo said, before letting out a sigh. He made a heck of a save.Phew, said Bishop.I dove and I felt it hit my glove and I was kind of like, `Are you kidding me? Bishop said. Sometimes its good to be a little lucky, I guess.He was fortunate again in the second period when defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen slipped a shot through his legs only to have the puck dribble wide of the left post. Bishop did make several big stops on forward Sam Reinhart parked in front.Kucherovs goal with 18 seconds remaining in the second period proved to be a backbreaker for Buffalo. It allowed the Lightning to reclaim a two-goal lead after Franson had cut the margin seven minutes earlier.Killorn pounced on a turnover in Buffalos zone and fed Kucherov, who drove to left circle. Kucherov then snapped a shot that beat goalie Robin Lehner, who was screened by Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson.Game notes Lightning LW Jonathan Drouin returned after missing seven games with an upper body injury. ... The Sabres Dan Bylsma became the NHLs 66th coach to reach 500 games. ... Franson became Buffalos first defenseman to score a goal this season. ... D Anton Stralman (upper body) missed his third straight game and is not expected to miss the final two games of Lightings five-game road trip.UP NEXTLightning: At Philadelphia on Saturday.Sabres: Host Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Sean Casey Jersey . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. Matt Bowman Jersey . -- Timbers coach Caleb Porter didnt stray from his business-like approach to the season even after Portland downed the two-time defending league champion Los Angeles Galaxy to gain crucial playoff position. https://www.cheapredsjerseys.us/ . 10 VCU 85-67 on Thursday night at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Seminoles (4-0) have scored at least 80 points in each of their games. Jake Daubert Jersey .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Dan Driessen Jersey . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. Nothing feeds the NFLs overreaction culture like a streak -- winning streak, losing streak, whatever. Because the season is so short and theres so much time between games, even short streaks can feel eternal. When they are occurring, streaks seem as if theyre defining seasons. They are the enemy of circumspection.Look at the Philadelphia Eagles. Theyre 3-2, but because they had a bye in Week 4 and have lost two in a row since, it feels like they havent won in forever. And they kind of havent. When the Eagles take the field on Sunday against the Vikings, it will have been 28 days since they last won a game. That feels like a long time because it is.A four-game losing streak in the NFL is the rough mathematical equivalent of a 20-game losing streak in the NBA or a 40-game losing streak in Major League Baseball. It is heavy, season-wrecking stuff. In a league in which?fans live and die with every win and loss, four of either in a row can really mess with peoples emotions.At the present time, there are four NFL teams on winning streaks of four games or longer and four teams on losing streaks of four games or longer. So we present this weeks What We Learned: Streak Edition.The NFC East is ... back?This week finds the Dallas Cowboys (current streak: W-5) and Washington Redskins (W-4) in first and second place, respectively, in the NFC East. But every team in the division is at least .500. NFC East teams have a combined 11-4 record against teams from other divisions, including the Eagles Week 3 beatdown of the Steelers and the Cowboys victory in Green Bay on Sunday. The division hasnt produced multiple playoff teams since 2009, and only one NFC East team (the 2014 Cowboys) has won more than 10 games in a season since then. But hoo boy, are the teams at the top pushing around people with their offensive lines. The Cowboys in particular on Sunday showed they dont care whos in front of them. They rushed for 191 yards against a Packers team that had allowed a total of 171 in its first four games.Colin Kaepernick isnt the answer for the 49ers (L-5), because there isnt oneAnyone who thought Blaine Gabbert was keeping the San Francisco 49ers from becoming the 2007 Patriots should now be able to see (A) the problems in San Francisco run much deeper than that one position and (B) there isnt a quarterback on the current roster who can save this situation. Not Gabbert, not Christian Ponder, not Kaepernick, who looked just as erratic -- 13-for-29 passing for 187 yards and a touchdown -- as he did the last time we saw him on a field. Yeah, Kaepernick can still run fast, but theres more to playing quarterback than that -- even when youre playing the position for Chip Kelly.The Vikings (W-5) are in even better shape than we thoughtThe Minnesota Vikings didnt play this week, but the Packers loss to the Cowboys means the Vikings come back from their bye with a two-game lead over a Packers team they beat in Week 2. Yeah, three of their next four games are on the road. And two of them are against teams from that resurgent NFC East. But after everything this team endured the first couple of weeks of the season, you get the feeling they can handle a few road trips.dddddddddddd And the fact that Dr. Evil appears to have traveled back in time to the University of California, Berkeley in 2003 to steal Aaron Rodgers mojo gives the Vikes a little bit of an early-season cushion.Carolina (L-4) has more problems than just all of the kids in its secondaryDid you see Cam Newtons postgame news conference? Nobody who is dressed like that should look that sad. Its almost as if Cam should bring two sartorial options for each game, in case its another tough loss and hes like, Nah, this game didnt deserve the peacock bow tie. Anyway, the 2015 MVP has a completion percentage of 57.8, which ranks him 31st in the league. And on the other side of the ball for the Carolina Panthers, wheres the pass rush? Real nice that you figured out how to score 21 points in the fourth quarter. But if your defense cant make life miserable for the opposing quarterback?in that quarter, youre going to lose close games. A lot of them. Trust me. I covered the 2015 Giants. Ive seen some things ...Hell hath no fury like a running back scornedLeSean McCoy now has 251 total yards and three touchdowns in two career games against teams coached by Chip Kelly. He got 142 of those yards and all three touchdowns on Sunday, against Kellys woefully overmatched 49ers. But while McCoy might be OK?if Kelly takes it personally, Kelly shouldnt. Since the Buffalo Bills (W-4) changed offensive coordinators, McCoy has 524 total yards and six touchdowns in four games. He and OC Anthony Lynn are equal-opportunity soul crushers at this point.The Browns (L-6) do not possess a margin for errorDid you know the last time the Cleveland Browns started a season 0-6 was 1999? Thats right, people. The horrifying truth is that this is a lousy start even for the Browns. Now, as Ive written before, this is clearly the worst team in the league and to some extent by design. The front office has stripped down the roster and loaded up on future draft picks it hopes to use more effectively than its predecessors did. But Hue Jackson is coaching his tail off from a motivational perspective, and the players on the field dont think theyre overmatched. One of the issues on Sunday was Jacksons decision to try a two-point conversion before he needed to. A small and debatable mistake, sure, but these Browns are going to have to be perfect if theyre going to win -- even against fellow rebuilders like the Titans.The Jets (L-4) are the new SaintsEntering Monday nights game in Arizona, the New York Jets were allowing more yards per pass attempt (9.2) and a higher opponents passer rating (118.6) than any team in the league. Based on those numbers, every quarterback who plays the Jets this year is basically the 2007?Tom Brady. (Better, actually. Bradys passer rating that year was 117.2, only the fourth highest in league history.) Carson Palmer & Co. were happy to see old buddy Todd Bowles, but they have to be wondering what happened to him. ' ' '