Preds Drop 5-3 Decision to Sabres

The Nashville Predators, playing their first home game since Jan. 3, dropped a 5-3 decision to the Buffalos Sabres Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.
Juuse Saros made 28 saves in goal for the Predators, who moved to 19-17-6 on the season with their third consecutive loss.

THE STORY

Jeff Skinner opened the scoring for Buffalo, taking the puck on a breakaway and deking a goal past Saros to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 11:37 of the first period. Juuso Parssinen then drew an elbowing penalty on Ilya Lyubushkin, leading to Nashville's first power-play opportunity. Roman Josi capitalized on the opportunity, receiving a feed from Ryan Johansen and one-timing it into the net on the man advantage to tie the score at 1-1 heading into the first intermission.

The second period saw a flurry of goals from both sides, beginning with a go-ahead goal from Dylan Cozens before Victor Oloffson scored on the power play to extend Buffalo's lead to 3-1. The Preds responded in a big way, when Jeremy Lauzon received a behind-the-net feed from Cody Glass and blasted a shot past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 15:10 to bring the Preds back within one. Then, just 40 seconds later, Johansen tipped in a wrist shot from Dante Fabbro to tie things up once again at the end of the frame.

The Sabres broke the tie once again in the third period with a shorthanded tally from Kyle Okposo. Jack Quinn scored unassisted at 16:49 for the 5-3 final.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Captain Clutch
With his power-play tally, Josi now has 30 points (10g-20a) in his last 33 games and 33 total points in 2022-23 (11g-22a). The Predators captain has now recorded nine 10-goal seasons in his NHL career, the second-most in franchisehistory behind David Legwand (13).
Parssinen Stays Hot
With a helper on Josi's power-play goal in the first period, Parssinen extended his point streak to six straight games. He has recorded eight points (1g-7a) in that time span, putting up multi-point performances on Jan. 5 at Carolina (2a) and Jan. 12 at Montreal (1g-1a). Since making his NHL debut on Nov. 12 vs. the New York Rangers, Parssinen has totaled 17 points (4g-13a) and ranks in the top-10 among all NHL rookies in both points and assists.

THEY SAID IT

Josi on Nashville's Overall Effort:
"I think we felt good going into the third. Obviously we had a lot of momentum. And then we gave up one on the power play. They got the shorthanded goal, which was the tiebreaker. That just can't happen on the power play. Obviously you get a chance to score and if you don't score you get some momentum, but you can't get scored on… I thought in the second we fought back hard. They got some goals early, but then we came back and got some momentum. Like I said, we felt pretty good going into the third and it's obviously an unfortunate way to lose - to give up a goal on the power play. I think going into the third in a tie game we've got to find a way to win."
Josi on the Three-Game Skid:
"I think the game in Montreal wasn't good. We didn't play well. I thought tonight was a little better, but I feel like against teams like Buffalo, they play pretty offensive. They jump on turnovers and when we're in the o-zone they jump quick. And then they had too many odd man rushes and I think that's definitely something we've got to clear up."
Head Coach John Hynes on the Loss:
"It's disappointing for sure. There's an option to make a difference in the game and just comes down to the puck battle in the corner. We had a soft arrival, he also makes the play out of the corner and then beats us to the back. That's a play we clearly have to have… It was a good, hard fought game and when it comes to tight games like that, it's those little details that are a big difference. You commit to the defensive zone, whether you're on the power play, four-on-four, three-on-three, five-on-five. There's got to be a hard arrival on the puck and you have to be able to nullify the first guy. We had two guys in the corner and their guy still comes out with the puck."
Hynes on Nashville's Struggle to Find Consistency:
"Well, you want to be able to string more together. It's like two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, one step back and it's that consistency to win more regularly. That part of our game, that part of our mindset has to get better. Part of our performance of the consistency level has to be better game the game and multiple games in a row."

UP NEXT

Nashville's three-game homestand continues Monday, when they host the Calgary Flames at Bridgestone Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.