BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Steven Stamkos is on the score sheet, and the Tampa Bay Lightning are once again off and rolling.

The Lightning's star center picked up his first goal of the season in a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday that featured four different goal scorers.

"Hopefully you see him score and you're fired up because it's usually a good sign for us," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

Right wingers Nikita Kucherov, Erik Condra and J.T. Brown also scored for the Lightning (2-0-0). Goalie Ben Bishop made 24 saves.

Stamkos' goal stood out from the rest because of some creative thinking by right winger Ryan Callahan. Shortly before the midway point of the third period, Callahan - camped out behind the end line - banked a pass off the side of the net, which promptly ricocheted to Stamkos in front of the Buffalo net.

"Playground rules," Cooper said. "That's a heady play, that's the skill level of these players. They think things like that under immense pressure, defensemen on you and Stammer's joining the spot and Stammer does what Stammer does."

The two players actually attempted to connect on a similar play earlier in the game.

"Couple shifts before he tried to feed one out from and the goalie got his stick on it," Stamkos said. "He came back to the bench and said, 'I should've thrown it off the net.' Second time he does it and it's right on my tape. Pretty impressive play."

After a 43-goal, 72-point season one year ago, Stamkos was thrilled to get his first of the year out of the way.

"Can't hurt," Stamkos said. "I had a slow start the last three, four years so obviously it helps with the confidence. Always say you feel like you have some more confidence, some more jump. To do it in a nice win, a solid third period, was nice to see."

Left winger Nicolas Deslauriers scored for the Sabres (0-2-0). Goaltender Chad Johnson made 27 saves while getting the start in place of Robin Lehner (lower body), who is on injured reserve.

"We gave them their three or four goals so we've just got to get better there," Deslauriers said.

The revamped Sabres have shown improvement after finishing last in the NHL in each of the past two seasons but are still working on their chemistry. New players include second overall pick Jack Eichel, center Ryan O'Reilly and left winger Evander Kane.

"We needed to come together and develop as a team in how we need to play in how we need to win and we're in the very beginning of developing that," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said.

Condra opened the scoring 8:14 into the second period following a routine faceoff win in the Buffalo zone. The right winger curled inside the left point and lifted a high wrist shot through traffic to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead.

Deslauriers evened the score 5:41 later by tucking a backhand shot inside the far post from close range. The rebound opportunity came following a shot by defenseman Josh Gorges from inside the left circle.

Kucherov restored Tampa Bay's lead just before the end of the second period with a rifle of a shot on the power play. With Tampa Bay turning up the pressure, Kucherov fired a hard wrist shot high to the glove side. The Lightning power play came after the Sabres were penalized for having too many men on the ice.

Stamkos made it 3-1 on Callahan's brilliant assist 8:53 into the third period.

Brown made it 4-1 with 7:19 remaining when he tipped a blast from the point from defenseman Jason Garrison.

NOTES: RW Brian Gionta and D Matt Donovan were scratched for the Sabres. Gionta is out with a lower-body injury but is considered day-to-day. ... C Cedric Paquette and D Nikita Nesterov were scratched for the Lightning. ... Prior to the game, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma had no update regarding the status of G Robin Lehner. Lehner suffered a lower-body injury against Ottawa on Thursday and was placed on injured reserve Saturday. He was scheduled to receive an MRI Saturday. ... The Sabres recalled G Nathan Lieuwen from Rochester of the American Hockey League. Lieuwen played seven games for Buffalo during the 2013-14 season, posting a 1-4-0 record.