The Tampa Bay Lightning benched three star players during the third period of their 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon.

Forwards Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point didn't appear in the third period for Lightning, who trailed the Sabres 4-1 entering the period. The loss in Buffalo left Tampa Bay winless in four straight (0-3-1), their longest streak of the season.

"As coaches, you've got to put your team in the best position to win and 99.9% of the time those guys give us the best chance to win when they're on the ice. It just felt, in the third period, they weren't giving us the best chance to win," said coach Jon Cooper after the game, via the Lightning.

"Those guys are an extremely important part of our team, but for 20 minutes tonight, I thought the other guys could get it done. And you know what? They almost did," said Cooper.

The Lightning rallied in the third with two goals, but ultimately fell short to the Sabres, who are 6-3-0 in their past nine games.

"We've got a lot of pride in this room and in our organization. It's not a situation where you're upset with guys or you feel differently about guys. You've got to come here and go to work," said Cooper. "It's the best league in the world with the best players in the world. If you're not giving it to the standard that this franchise has set, you can't go out there. Those guys are the reason we have a standard that high."

Point had a goal and Kucherov and Stamkos had assists in the game. Stamkos was a minus-3, Point was a minus-2 and Kucherov was a minus-1.

The Lightning are 37-20-5 on the season for 79 points, 11 points ahead of Buffalo for third place in the Atlantic Division.