The Buffalo Sabres lost a tough game to the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime, 6-5 on Monday night.

Buffalo trailed 2-0, before storming back to take the lead 3-2. After Tampa tied it, the Sabres went ahead 5-3 in the third period but blew the lead and the game shortly thereafter.

While the Sabres have struggled with both goaltending and to a lesser extent, defense, they have not had much of a problem finding the back of the net for the majority of their 22 games.

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Leading the way is arguably the greatest breakout we have ever seen from any NHL player, Tage Thompson.

Thompson was acquired in 2018 as part of the Ryan O'Reilly trade with the St. Louis Blues and was relegated to a third or fourth line role with both the Blues and Sabres, even being assigned to Rochester in 2018 and 2019.

He brokeout with 38 goals last season and already has 14 goals and 28 points in just 22 games; that's a 50-goal pace and over 100 points.

Thompson also scored what could be the most incredible goal we have seen from a Sabres player in years. It was Buffalo's first goal of the game and made all the highlight reels -- even getting a feature on SportsCenter, which doesn't happen much with hockey.

I watched that goal at least 10 times in a row. It's amazing how he torqued his body to handle the puck and then deke goaltender Brian Elliott like he did.

I haven't seen an NHL player come from nowhere to a superstar like Thompson has between 2020-2022. The closest is Martin St. Louis, who went from an undrafted free agent out of Vermont, to doing nothing with the Calgary Flames organization, to being a superstar with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Thompson's ascension may top that.

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