BUFFALO, N.Y. -- With a goal for the ages, Nikita Kucherov has the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the thick of the wild-card race.

Kucherov scored the clinching goal in the second round of the shootout to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night -- and it was a spectacular effort.

Tampa Bay's leading scorer threw a change-up at Sabres goalie Robin Lehner, calmly sliding the puck through Lehner's legs before faking a deke afterward.

"He does it in practice all the time," center Tyler Johnson said. "A lot of people mess around doing that, but you would never think you would do that in an NHL game. But that's (Kucherov). That's going to be a goal that's going to be on YouTube forever."

Brayden Point scored in the first round of the shootout and Johnson scored in regulation for the Lightning (30-26-8), who are now three points behind the New York Islanders for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

But all anyone could talk about afterward was Kucherov's heroics.

"He brought the schoolyard to the big stage," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "There are guys that can take the game to the next level and be that creative ... and that's why this is such a great game because you never know when you are going to see something new and exciting. And we saw that tonight."

Defenseman Victor Hedman added, "That's going to be played for a while on the highlights."

The Lightning got a much-needed rebound after a 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Friday. Tampa Bay is 8-2-2 in its past 12 games as it looks to make a late playoff push.

"How many times do you hear me say it -- at this point, we've used our mulligans," Cooper said. "After a hard game last night in Pittsburgh and to come here less than 24 hours later, lace 'em up again and to come out of here with two points, much needed, but there's still a lot more work to do."

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves.

Ryan O'Reilly scored for Buffalo (27-26-12). Robin Lehner made 31 saves but lamented his effort in the shootout. Lehner has yet to make a save in the shootout this season and is 0 of 8 in shootout attempts.

"Bad by me, pretty sick by him," Lehner said. "It's not a secret I'm not the best at shootouts. I'm working on it."

Both goalies were solid throughout regulation. Lehner had big pad save on Vladislav Namestnikov midway through the third period from close range and Vasilevskiy came up strong two minutes later with back-to-back stops on O'Reilly and Evander Kane.

"There's not a lot of ways to look at it," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said of Lehner. "Tonight he was outstanding in the game. ... He got us the point in the game. He's (been) a bit of a riddle, mystery about him in a shootout."

O'Reilly opened the scoring on the power play with 11.2 seconds left in the first period. O'Reilly's one-timer from the right circle beat Vasilevskiy on the short side for O'Reilly's 15th goal of the year.

Johnson made it 1-1 after a great feed by Hedman.

Hedman, sitting inside the right circle, spotted Johnson in front of the net for a tap-in and Johnson's 19th goal of the season. Hedman has 13 points in his last nine games.

Both teams had an opportunity to end the game with power plays in overtime but were unable to get the job done before the shootout.

"It was a tough game," Hedman said. "We didn't have our best in the first period but in the second and third I thought we played much better and give a lot of props to our PK for coming up big there in the third and in the beginning of overtime. ... Good thing we have (Kucherov) and Pointer, we could get us the extra points."

NOTES: Sabres D Dmitry Kulikov suffered an upper-body injury with 5:40 left in the first period and did not return ... RW Kyle Okposo (ribs) and D Justin Falk were scratched for the Sabres. Okposo was injured late in the second period of Buffalo's win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday and is considered week to week, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said before the game. Okposo is Buffalo's leading scorer with 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists). ... C Gregg McKegg was the lone scratch for the Lightning. ... This was the third of four meetings between the teams this season. Their fourth and final meeting takes place Sunday, April 9, which is both teams' final game of the regular season.