Nashville Predators at Buffalo Sabres

Juuse Saros makes 34 saves, Predators beat Sabres 2-1

Yakov Trenin also scored for the Predators — coming off a 4-3 home loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday — in a first-period burst.

“I really liked our first half of the game,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think a little fatigue set in, it’s our first back-to-back, and maybe we weren’t as sharp. But the will and the desire to win was there and we had some great goaltending so it was a big win.”

Victor Olofsson scored on a penalty shot for Buffalo, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves. The Sabres have lost three in a row to fall to 10-13-2. They lost 6-2 at Carolina on Saturday.

“I feel like right now it’s like it’s two different teams out there,” Sabres forward Dylan Cozens said. “We play a completely different way when we’re down and that’s how we need to play right off the bat. We need to play like we’re desperate.”

The Predators scored twice in just over a minute midway through the first period to take a 2-0 lead. After surrendering a 2-0 lead against the Rangers on Saturday, the Predators were able to hold off Buffalo.

Forsberg opened the scoring at 9:40 with a quick one-timer following a faceoff win. The shot rang off the post and in. Trenin redirected a shot from Colton Sissons 1:14 later.

“It was great. I thought we did a lot of good things last night and didn’t get rewarded,” Forsberg said. “Today, I thought was maybe not as good but we had a lot of good things and enough good things to win.”

Olofsson converted the penalty shot midway through the second period. He was awarded the shot after being taken down by defenseman Jeremy Lauzon on a breakaway. Olofsson got Saros to commit before firing a wrist shot to the opposite side for his third goal of the season.

Saros’ best save came just over seven minutes into the third period when he sprawled onto the ice to stop Dylan Cozens with a left pad save. Saros also made a save at the final buzzer with several Sabres near the crease.

Sabres forward Alex Tuch left in the third period because of an injury. He did not return.

UP NEXT

Predators: At Chicago on Tuesday night.

Sabres: Host Detroit on Tuesday night.

NSH leads series 1-0