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
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 | 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 |