Game Day: Sabres vs. Preds Preview

After prevailing in a dramatic overtime victory on Tuesday, the Nashville Predators will attempt to extend their win streak to six games tonight when they host the Buffalo Sabres at Bridgestone Arena. This evening's contest is the first of two meetings between the Preds and Sabres this season; Nashville will visit Western New York to start the month of April.
The Predators have a perfect record since the calendar flipped to 2022; they've won five-straight outings and have wins in 13 of their last 16 outings. The most recent came two nights earlier, a 5-4 OT triumph against Colorado that saw a pair of power-play goals from Matt Duchene, including the winner in overtime.

No matter the style of game lately, the Predators continue to find ways to win, thanks in large part to stellar goaltending and clutch scoring combined with an identity that the team plays perfectly more often than not.
"We're finding ways to win different games of all different types," Duchene said following Tuesday's win. "I mean, you play a game against Arizona [on Saturday], that's a very different game than tonight, and you win both games and you take care of business. I think just our ability to stay even keel no matter what the game, no matter what other teams throw at us, whether we're down 3-0 in Washington or whether we're up tonight 2-0 and they come back and tie it, we're just level the whole time."
"We just kept playing and doing the right things," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "These are tough games to be able to play in, and it's one of the things we've talked with our team about is as we continue to move forward is trying to play our best against the best and finding different ways to win and really test ourselves, test our competitiveness, our structure, our mindset against the team like Colorado. And tonight, we found a way to win."
The Predators did not practice on Wednesday following Tuesday's victory. Prior to Tuesday's game, forward Yakov Trenin was added to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list alongside Filip Forsberg. Forwards Matt Luff and Cole Smith were reassigned to Nashville's taxi squad on Wednesday afternoon.

The Good Guys:

Preds Captain Roman Josi (483), who recorded two assists on Tuesday night, passed Martin Erat (481) for the second-most points in franchise history. He is three assists (354) from passing David Legwand (356) for the most in franchise history.
Josi (12g-25a) continues to lead the Preds in scoring with 37 points, followed by Duchene (16g-17a) and Mikael Granlund (5g-28a) with 33 points apiece. Ryan Johansen (10g-19a) has 29 points on the season, and forward Tanner Jeannot has 12 goals to lead all NHL rookies. Saros is now 20-9-1 on the season; netminder David Rittich is 3-1-1.

The Opposition:

The Sabres (10-19-6) have lost their past six outings, including a 6-1 defeat against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 12 goals and 23 points, followed by Rasmus Dahlin (6g-16a) with 22 points and Victor Olofsson (5g-15a) with 20 points. Jeff Skinner has 11 goals and 19 points in 33 games for Buffalo. Malcom Subban and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen both saw time in net for the Sabres during Tuesday's loss, but both goaltenders are now listed with injuries for the team. On Wednesday, Buffalo recalled netminder Aaron Dell and signed goaltender Michael Houser.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 17-9-(1)-2 all-time against the Sabres, including a 6-7-(0)-2 record at Bridgestone Arena. The last game between the two teams was on Jan. 18, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena, a 2-1 victory for the Predators.
The Predators have earned at least a point in 11 of their last 14 meetings with the Sabres (10-3-1). At home, Nashville is 4-2-1 in its last seven games vs. Buffalo.

Notables Versus Buffalo:

Ryan Johansen is on a personal 12-game point streak vs. Buffalo in which he's tallied 13 points (4g-9a). He's recorded a point in 14 of his 17 career games against the Sabres (4g-12a). Matt Duchene has seven points (2g-5a) in his last eight games vs. Buffalo, including a three-point effort (3a) on Feb. 15, 2018.
Mikael Granlund has seven points (3g-4a) in his last eight games against Buffalo. David Rittich is 4-0-1 with a 2.17 goals-against average and .923 save percentage in five career meetings with the Sabres.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for this evening's 7 p.m. CT puck drop from Nashville begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show on Bally Sports South with Lyndsay Rowley and Terry Crisp. Willy Daunic, Chris Mason and Kara Hammer have the call on the television side, while Max Herz - who is filling in for Pete Weber - and Hal Gill broadcast on the radio. Pregame coverage on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network begins at 6 p.m. CT. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.