Sabres defeat Predators after longtime broadcaster Jeanneret honored

BUFFALO --Tage Thompson scored twice, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 at KeyBank Center on Friday.

Peyton Krebs and Victor Olofsson each had a goal and an assist, Dylan Cozens and Alex Tuch each had two assists, and Craig Anderson made 22 saves for the Sabres (25-33-11), who honored longtime broadcaster Rick Jeanneret before the game in front of a capacity crowd.
Jeanneret, who will be retiring after calling Buffalo's regular-season finale against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 29, had a banner with his initials, "RJ," a microphone and the years he has worked (1971-2022), hoisted to the rafters.
"The crowd tonight was unreal," Thompson said. "It makes a really big difference. The guys feel it out there, just the energy, it gives us a lot of jump, and it's really exciting to play in front of it. Obviously, all that credit goes to 'RJ' and all the amazing things he's done for this city and the organization the past 51 years.
"Hopefully we can continue to build this thing that we got going. Down the road, that's something we're really looking forward to, is playing in front of that sold-out crowd."

Filip Forsberg scored, Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene each had two assists, and Juuse Saros made 31 saves for the Predators (39-25-4), who had won two straight.
Nashville remained three points ahead of the Dallas Stars for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"They made it tough for us, especially in their own zone," Forsberg said. "They played hard, defended well, and obviously had opportunistic scoring when they needed to. The first period, I think, was not our greatest, but we found a way to come out of it 3-3, and after that, it was a pretty even game. … We didn't necessarily create as many chances as we wanted, which is something that we definitely have to work on but also have to give them all the credit for."
Olofsson put the Sabres ahead 4-3 at 14:25 of the second period with a one-timer from the right circle on the power play.
Krebs made it 1-0 at 2:14 of the first period, jumping on a rebound at the bottom of the left circle to end an eight-game goal drought.
Forsberg tied it 1-1 at 4:32, scoring on the rebound of a Duchene shot at the front of the net.
Thompson made it 2-1 at 6:58 with a snap shot from the slot before extending Buffalo's lead to 3-1 at 13:22 when his shot went in off the stick of Predators forward Tanner Jeannot.
"We just know how enthusiastic and how genuine this city is, and I think we have the same thing in our locker room, we have a lot of genuine guys," Thompson said. "Just a blue-collar group that's trying and earn back everything, earn back the respect of the fans. So just taking it one day at a time. I think tonight was a really big stepping stone."

Michael McCarron cut the lead to 3-2 at 17:23, tipping in Matt Benning's point shot.
Jeremy Lauzon tied it 3-3 at 19:01 after his shot hit the glass behind the net and bounced back to him at the side of the net.
"Every game presents a different challenge and every team at this time of year is playing for something," Predators coach John Hynes said. "It's the hardest time of the year hockey-wise. I think you see that in every game that we've played there. They're extremely competitive, everyone's playing hard. We just have to find a way to win the game that's in front of us, regardless of who we play."
NOTES:Forsberg extended his point streak to four games (three goals, four assists) and has scored 11 goals in his past 12 games. … Thompson became the third Arizona-born NHL player to score 30 goals in a season, joining Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk and Philadelphia Flyers forward Sean Couturier, who have each done it twice. … Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju played in his 200th NHL game. … The Sabres are 5-0-3 in their past eight games, their longest point streak since winning 10 in a row from Nov. 8-27, 2018.