Nashville Predators' season-high seven goals enough to cruise past Buffalo Sabres
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The Nashville Predators scored a season-high seven goals to the Buffalo Sabres' three during a victory Tuesday in Buffalo, two days after suffering their worst loss of the season in which they allowed goals on six consecutive shots against the New York Rangers.
Philip Tomasino put the Predators ahead 1-0 with 8 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first period.
Matt Duchene’s 20th goal made it 2-0 with 1:17 left in the first and teammate Cody Glass down on the ice after a hit from Tage Thompson. Glass left on his own accord and returned less than five minutes into the second period, shortly after Kiefer Sherwood fought Thompson.
Dylan Cozens cut the deficit in half for Buffalo with 16:24 remaining in the second. But Tommy Novak made it 3-1 in favor of Nashville with his goal 24 seconds later. What would have been Duchene’s second goal of the game, with 15:03 left in the second, was turned over after review for offside.
Luke Evangelista, though, did make it 4-1 with 10:39 left in the second. He made it 5-1 just 40 seconds later. He also had two assists in the second, tying Filip Forsberg's franchise record for points in one period. He also become the second rookie in Predators history to record a four-point game. Dan Hamhuis did it in 2004.
Ryan McDonagh, who returned Tuesday from injury, upped it to 6-1 with 4:08 left in the second, chasing Buffalo goalie Craig Anderson and tying the Predators’ season high for goals in a game.
Thompson scored a power-play goal for Buffalo with 2:43 left in the second to make it 6-2.
Buffalo cut it to 6-3 on Joel Skinner's score with 12:15 remaining in the third. Duchene's second goal of the game, an empty netter, made it 7-3.
The Predators continue to deal with a rash of injuries, the latest to captain Roman Josi, who missed his second straight game Tuesday with an upper-body injury. Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Alexandre Carrier and Juuso Parssinen also have been out with various ailments.
The Predators return home to face the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and Saturday. On Saturday, the team will unveil a statue of former goalie Pekka Rinne in the plaza at Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators were five points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference at the start of Tuesday.
Nashville is 35-26-8. The Sabres are 33-31-6.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators beat Buffalo Sabres with season-high seven goals
