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(SportsNetwork.com) - The red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning will try to extend their lead atop the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference when they host the sliding Buffalo Sabres in Fridays clash at Amalie Arena. The Lightning are two points ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for first place in the Atlantic. Tampa also owns a two-point edge over both the Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins for the top spot in the East and the Habs and Pens are idle on Friday. Tampa has surged to the top of the East standings thanks to a 6-1-0 record over its past seven trips to the ice. That included a recent 3-1-0 road trip that ended with consecutive 4-2 victories over Ottawa and the Canadiens. Although Montreal has played two fewer games than the Lightning at this stage of the season, the Bolts and Habs entered Tuesdays showdown tied for the division lead. It marked the second of five regular-season meetings between the Atlantic foes, and Tampa extended its winning streak over the Habs to three games. That leaves out the postseason since Montreal swept the Lightning out of the first round last spring. Tyler Johnson scored twice to lead Tampa over the Habs on Tuesday. Brett Connolly and J.T. Brown also scored, while Ben Bishop, who missed last seasons playoff encounter due to injury, made 20 saves for the Lightning. I think the biggest thing is that were playing as a team, said Johnson. Thats the great thing about the guys in this locker room. It doesnt matter who gets the goals or the assists, were all trying to win games. Toronto also halted Montreals winning streak at six games, dealing the Canadiens their first loss since Dec. 18 against Anaheim. Bishop boasts a 5-0-1 record and 1.94 goals against average in six career games against the Sabres and expects to start again tonight. Buffalo and the Lightning have split a pair of meetings so far this season, but the Bolts claimed a 5-0 victory when the clubs met last on Dec. 4 in Central Florida. The rout was Tampas third win in its last four home tilts against the Sabres. The Sabres enter tonight having lost six straight and 10 of their last 11 games. They have been outscored by a combined score of 27-7 during their current 0-6-0 slide and by a 15-4 margin so far on a four-game road trip. Buffalo fell to 0-3 on its current swing with Thursdays 5-2 setback at Carolina. The Canes scored three times in a span of less than 1 1/2 minutes in the first period on Thursday. Jiri Tlusty put Carolina up 2-1 on a 5-on-3 marker at the 13:50 mark of the second period. Less than a minute later, Eric Staal was credited with a wrap- around goal, and Victor Rask followed that up with a goal on a deflection 26 seconds later. Both Sabres goals were scored by Philip Varone, who entered the contest with one goal in 10 NHL games. Chris Stewart assisted on both tallies. Jhonas Enroth allowed all five Hurricanes goals on 31 shots. You gotta be alert, said Sabres coach Ted Nolan. You gotta make sure when you get a chance, you gotta play with some urgency. That didnt happen, and when it doesnt happen, you take bad penalties and the game is over. Buffalo was outshot 31-20 in the game, marking the 35th time in 42 games this season that the Sabres have had less shots than their opponent. Drew Stafford missed his second straight game on Thursday, but the forward is expected to be back in the lineup tonight. Stafford was out due to the birth of his first child. Michal Neuvirth could get the start tonight for Buffalo, although the Sabres backup goaltender has not won since Nov. 15 and has lost each of his past five decisions. However, he does own a 3-1-0 record and a 3.01 GAA in six career games against the Lightning. If Nolan chooses to go with Enroth it would be his third start in four days. Enroth is 4-2-1 with a 2.53 GAA in seven lifetime starts against Tampa. ORLANDO, Fla. -- A miserable season just keeps getting worse for the Philadelphia 76ers. Tobias Harris scored a career-high 31 points and the Orlando Magic beat the 76ers for the second time in less than a week, winning 92-81 Sunday night to extend Philadelphias losing streak to 14 games. The 76ers skid is their longest since 1994, when they lost 15 straight, and includes a defeat last Monday to the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBAs worst team. The 76ers have the NBAs second-worst record, while the Magic have the third-worst. Nikola Vucevic had 18 points and 17 rebounds for Orlando, which outscored Philadelphia 26-12 in the fourth quarter to earn the win. "It was definitely my mindset to attack them, put pressure on their defence," Harris said. "When I saw gaps in their defence, I wanted to attack them. They were focusing a lot on Nik tonight, so I saw a lot of openings spacing-wise that I used to my advantage." Both Orlando and Philadelphia have been clear that they are in rebuilding phases, and the 76ers traded two of their best players -- centre Spencer Hawes and guard-forward Evan Turner -- on Feb. 20. Philadelphia coach Brett Brown attributed the 76ers new-look lineup to their recent woes, pointing to it as a reason behind his squads spate of turnovers against Orlando. "We had 19 turnovers and six came from our point guards," Brown said. "A lot of that happened when we had three of five guys on the court who have only been with each other four days. Our offence hurt us more than our defence. "We were throwing the ball away or not knowing who to turn to.dddddddddddd We poked ourselves in the eye with our turnovers. But give Orlando credit for raising the intensity in the fourth quarter and bothering us." Thaddeus Young had 29 points for Philadelphia and Michael Carter-Williams added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Both teams played road games the night before, which might have contributed to sloppy in a game that featured two of the leagues top rookies: Carter-Williams and Orlandos Victor Oladipo. Carter-Williams leads all NBA rookies in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played, is a front-runner to win the Rookie of the Year award, with Oladipo closely following him. Oladipo finished with nine points and Magic coach Jacque Vaughn admitted hes monitoring Oladipos minutes out of concern for fatigue. "Ill gauge his minutes to see how he feels," Vaughn said. "But hes been taking care of his body." NOTES: Magic guards Jameer Nelson (sore calf) and Arron Afflalo (illness) were out with injuries. It was the fifth game in a row Afflalo has missed, three with a sprained ankle and two with illness. . The Magic have a 15-15 record at home, thanks to winning seven of their last eight. . In their 14-game losing streak, Philadelphia has lost by an average of 16.8 points, with 11 of 14 of those losses coming by double digits. ... Even though the team that finishes with the leagues worst record increases its draft lottery chances, its no guarantee. The last team to finish with the worst record and secure the No. 1 pick was the Magic 10 years ago. They used that pick to select Dwight Howard. 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