Nashville, Tenn. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Fueled by a three-goal first period, the Buffalo Sabres took care of the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night with a 5-3 road win at Bridgestone Arena.
It was the Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius show in the first period of play, as the tandem terrorized the Nashville defense.
Ostlund opened the scoring, as he followed up on a rebound in front of the Predators net for his eighth goal of the season.
A little more than three-and-a-half minutes later, Ostlund went to the net, and was able to jam home a rebound to the right of the Nashville goal for his second goal of the period.
Ostlund tallied his second-career multi-goal game, while Helenius registered a pair of assists on the goals, making the first points of his NHL career.
Then in the late goings of the frame, Helenius added to his busy night in an impressive way.
The 19-year-old showed off an incredible shot from the slot to post his third point of the game, and checked off another box of NHL-firsts in the process.
The onslaught continued early in the middle stanza.
Tage Thompson was able to get involved, as he fired a shot off the goal post and into the net for his 26th goal of the campaign.
That goal made the score 4-0, and was the last shot goalie Juuse Saros faced for Nashville, as he was pulled in favor of backup Justus Annunen.
At about the halfway point of the period, though, Nashville dialed up the pressure and was able to net a pair on Buffalo. Veteran forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Filip Forsberg both potted goals to trim the Sabres' lead in half, 4-2.
Nashville crept closer 9:30 into the third period of play, and were officially within one when O'Reilly found twine once again.
Fortunately for the Sabres, Nashville's run ended at three.
With Annunen pulled from his net, the Sabres brought in "the closer", as forward Peyton Krebs sealed the deal with an empty-net goal.
It was Krebs' fifth goal of the season, and gave the team some much-needed breathing room to close out a 5-3 win.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 8:11 - Noah Ostlund (8) (Konsta Helenius, Rasmus Dahlin); 11:45 - Noah Ostlund (9) (Konsta Helenius, Owen Power); 17:24 - Konsta Helenius (1) (Peyton Krebs)
NSH: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 4:20 - Tage Thompson (26) (Alex Tuch, Josh Doan)
NSH: 10:09 - Ryan O'Reilly (17) (Filip Forsberg, Brady Skjei); 11:54 - Filip Forsberg (19) (Ryan O'Reilly)
Third Period:
BUF: 18:14 - Peyton Krebs (5) ENG (Mattias Samuelsson)
NSH: 9:30 - Ryan O'Reilly (18) (Luke Evangelista, Filip Forsberg)
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Bluestar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Konsta Helenius - BUF
2.) Noah Ostlund - BUF
3.) Ryan O'Reilly - NSH
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What's next:
The Sabres head North of the border to Montreal for a visit with the Canadiens. Puck drop from the Bell Centre is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call on WGR Sports Radio 550.