Sabres - The Buffalo News
National Hockey League
Nashville 7, Buffalo 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York
Referees: Garrett Rank, Graham Skilliter
Linesmen: Brad Kovachik, James Tobias
Attendance: 13043

Luke Evangelista had two goals and two assists and Matt Duchene added two goals and one assist to power the Nashville Predators to a 7-3 victory over the host Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

Philip Tomasino, Ryan McDonagh and Tommy Novak each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (35-26-8, 78 points), who ended their three-game losing streak that included a setback in overtime. Juuse Saros made 28 saves for the Predators.

Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner scored for the Sabres (33-31-6, 72 points), who have dropped four straight and 10 of their past 12 games (2-8-2), getting outscored 59-31 in that time.

Trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Sabres halved the deficit at the 3:36 mark of the second period.

JJ Peterka carried the puck the length of the ice only to be stopped by Saros, who failed to make a clean save, enabling Cozens to put home the rebound from close range.

Nashville countered 24 seconds later. After getting a pass from Evangelista along the wing, Tyson Barrie slid a pass to a streaking Novak, whose breakaway goal extended the advantage to 3-1.

The Predators took a 4-1 lead when Evangelista wristed Novak's pass by Craig Anderson at the 9:21 mark. Saros, whose outlet pass to Novak started the rush, was also credited with an assist -- the fifth of his career and his first since the 2017-18 season.

Evangelista made it 5-1 when he scored off an assist from Kiefer Sherwood just 40 seconds later, and McDonagh capped Nashville's four-goal period with a tally off a feed from Evangelista with 4:08 left.

Thompson's power-play goal off assists from Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson cut the lead to 6-2 with 2:43 left in the period.

Skinner scored off an assist from Alex Tuch to make it 6-3 at the 7:45 mark of the third period.

Duchene capped the scoring with an empty-net goal off McDonagh's assist with 2:23 left.

Nashville took a 1-0 lead when Duchene delivered a cross-ice pass to Tomasino, who drove a one-timer by Anderson at the 11:45 mark of the first period.

The Predators doubled their lead with 1:17 left in the period. After taking a pass on the left wing from Jeremy Lauzon, Tomasino slid a cross-ice pass to Duchene, who blasted a shot past Anderson.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Nashville   Buffalo
Luke Evangelista 4 Points Dylan Cozens 1
Luke Evangelista 2 Goals Dylan Cozens 1
Luke Evangelista 2 Assists Rasmus Dahlin 1
N/A Power Play Goals Tage Thompson 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Juuse Saros .903 Save Percentage Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 1.000
Juuse Saros 28 Saves Craig Anderson 14
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Nashville 27 7 0-3 3-4 13 28
Buffalo 31 3 1-4 3-3 11 22
Upcoming Games
  • Buffalo will play their next game at home against New Jersey. The Sabres have a W/L % of .576 after a win and .378 after a loss.
  • Nashville will play their next game at home against Seattle. The Predators have a W/L % of .543 after a win and .471 after a loss.