Wearing their home sweaters on the road, the Predators stormed into Buffalo seeking another two points. Matt Duchene opened the scoring early for Nashville, deking Linus Ullmark out of his pants with a neat tuck-in. The Sabres applied plenty of pressure against the Preds, and they finally broke through with a tying goal from Jimmy Vesey with a little over five minutes remaining in the first period.
The Predators answered quickly with a gorgeous tip-in from Colton Sissons off a blast from Roman Josi at the point. The Predators tried their hand on the power play at the end of the first period, and Buffalo put themselves down by two men with an ill-advised delay of game penalty.
The visitors opened up the second period with about a minute of power play time remaining, however, they weren’t able to find a third goal. Jack Eichel tied the game with a gorgeous top-shelf snapshot with just under five minutes gone in the second.
Matt Duchene was whistled for hooking and the Sabres got their first chance on the power play. The Nashville penalty killers came up big with some solid goaltending from Juuse Saros. However, the Sabres continued to pressure the Predators and Eichel put another goal past Saros after many failed attempts to clear the zone.
In a similar fashion, the Predators brought some sustained zone time in front of Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark. Ryan Johansen found the tying goal after around a minute of sustained zone time.
With 11:30 remaining in regulation, Sabres rookie Victor Olofsson found the go-ahead goal. The Predators, suffering from all kinds of confusing breakdowns in their zone, seemed to not be able to find the puck or get it away from Saros. They continued to chase the puck late into the third, choosing to shoot from the boards instead of getting bodies to the net.
With Saros on the bench, the Predators attempted to find a late tying goal. Several bouncing pucks stymied the offense and the boys in gold failed to pick up points.
Random Observations
- Hi, Carter Hutton.
- The Preds are wearing gold on the road.
- What a goal from Matt Duchene.
- There are three players named Rasmus playing for the Sabres.
- Ew, Jimmy Vesey.
- Holy redirection!!! Colton Snossis!
- What a goal from Sabres captain Jack Eichel.
- Solid penalty kill from the boys in gold.
- This is a grinder.
- Ouchie, Ryan Johansen. Glad he’s ok.
- Another breakdown, another Sabres goal.
- What a lackluster effort in the third.
- Gross. /
Super Duper Stars of the Game
- Colton Sissons
- Ryan Johansen
Tweets of the Night
That Duchene goal was just plain dirty.
— Paul Skrbina (@PaulSkrbina) December 13, 2019
Will Sissons get credit for the goal or just the tip?
— Shaun C. Smith (@SCSOTF) December 13, 2019