Nashville, Tenn. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres' winning streak ended at four games on Saturday night after a trip to the "Music City".
Visiting the Nashville Predators on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena, the Sabres skated uphill after falling into a 2-0 first period hole. In the end, their efforts weren't enough in a 6-4 loss.
The Sabres owned the ice for the first seven minutes of the contest, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
On Nashville's first scoring chance of the night, forward Tommy Novak made it count by firing a shot past Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for a 1-0 advantage for the Predators.
Two-and-a-half minutes later, the Predators doubled the lead on a nifty passing play.
Forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O'Reilly played pitch-and-catch in front of Luukkonen, before O'Reilly fed defenseman Brady Skjei directly in front of the Buffalo netminder. Skjei tipped the puck in to make it 2-0, Nashville, midway through the opening period.
The Sabres battled back and tied things up before period's end, though, with a pair of defenseman doing the damage for Buffalo.
First, it was Bowen Byram as the beneficiary of a great pass from Jason Zucker. Byram's goal, good for the 100th point of his NHL career, made it 2-1 with less than five minutes left in the period.
Then came captain Rasmus Dahlin, who was left all alone by the left faceoff circle to even the score with 1:35 left in the opening frame. Zach Benson located the Sabres defenseman to help snap his 24-game goalless drought.
A highly-contested second period remained testy and tied until there were only five-and-a-half minutes left. From that point until the buzzer, the teams combined for three goals: Two belonging to Nashville, and one for Buffalo.
The Predators grabbed consecutive goals to extend their lead to 4-2. It was Nashville's second multi-goal lead through the first 40 minutes. Forward Filip Forsberg gave the home side the advantage, before Skjei struck again for his second goal of the night with 4:47 left in the frame.
Needing an answer to seize back momentum, the Sabres got just that in the form of a goal from Alex Tuch.
Byram skated into the slot, which freed up space for Tuch at the left circle. Byram then fed the forward a one-time pass, and the Sabres winger made no mistake to cut the deficit to 4-3 in Nashville.
The Predators put more space in-between themselves and the Sabres seven minutes into the final period of play.
Nashville's first line of Forsberg, O'Reilly and Marchessault haunted Buffalo yet again, as O'Reilly registered his fourth assist of the night on Forsberg's second goal of the game to make it 5-3, Predators.
The Sabres remained persistent, though. Despite never leading, the Sabres kept remaining within striking distance.
On a wild power play sequence with seven-and-a-half minutes left in regulation, Dylan Cozens made it 5-4, Predators, as Buffalo kept up the resilience.
Just seconds later, it appeared as though the Sabres tied the game at 5-5 when Dahlin found Zach Benson moving in fresh off an offensive zone draw. Benson went against the grain to beat Nashville goalie Justus Annunen, but the play didn't survive a coach's challenge for being offside.
That change in fortune seemed to be the nail in the coffin for the Sabres.
A few more chances were turned away by Annunen and the Predators defense, and Nashville was able to seal the 6-4 win with an empty-net goal from Marchessault with 36 seconds left in regulation.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 15:21 - Bowen Byram (7) (Jason Zucker, Alex Tuch); 18:25 - Rasmus Dahlin (7) (Zach Benson, Ryan McLeod)
NSH: 6:57 - Tommy Novak (11) (Unassisted); 9:26 - Brady Skjei (6) (Ryan O'Reilly, Jonathan Marchessault)
Second Period:
BUF: 17:43 - Alex Tuch (19) (Bowen Byram, Rasmus Dahlin)
NSH: 14:31 - Filip Forsberg (20) PPG (Ryan O'Reilly, Roman Josi); 15:13 - Brady Skjei (7) (Ryan O'Reilly, Jonathan Marchessault)
Third Period:
BUF: 12:30 - Dylan Cozens (11) PPG (Alex Tuch, Owen Power)
NSH: 6:58 - Filip Forsberg (21) (Ryan O'Reilly); 19:24 - Jonathan Marchessault (17) ENG (Unassisted)
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Ryan O'Reilly - NSH
2.) Brady Skjei - NSH
3.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres have the next two weeks off, as the 4 Nations Face-Off takes center stage in the world of hockey. Dahlin is set to take part representing his home nation of Sweden, while Luukkonen and defenseman Henri Jokiharju will represent Finland in the tournament.
Once the in-season festivities wrap up, the Sabres will resume their regular season at home on Saturday, Feb. 22 when they host the New York Rangers. Puck drop at KeyBank Center is set for 5:30 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.