Even though the Buffalo Sabres were out-played, and took some undisciplined penalties, the team managed to steal a point from the NHL’s best team in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.
The Sabres were out-shot 38-17 in the game, and also took seven penalties throughout the course of the game. Even though the stats did not go in the Sabres direction, the Sabres did a fairly good job defensively against a strong Nashville team.
After a scoreless first period, and being out-shot 11-3, Tyler Ennis put away a beautiful pass from Zemgus Girgensons to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
The Sabres took a few penalties in the third period, which would eventually cost them a goal at the 15:43 mark of the third. Mike Ribiero put in a puck of a deflected shot from Cody Franson.
In the end, Buffalo would force overtime, and eventually the shootout where stud rookie Filip Forsberg ended the game in the fourth round of the 1-on-1 sudden death.
Michal Neuvirth stood on his head making 37 saves on 38 shots faced in the 65-minutes of regulation and overtime. Neuvirth ended up being the first star of the game.
In addition to Ennis’ goal at the 19:46 mark of the second period, Ennis finished the game with a team high four shots in 19:24 of total ice-time.
Zach Bogosian finished the hockey game with two hits and three blocked shots in a team high 28:07 of total ice-time, but took three penalties in the game. His penalty with 5:52 left in the third period set up Ribiero and the Predators to tie the game 1-1.
The Sabres now sit at 17-38-5 in the standings, and sit five points ahead of Edmonton in the race for 30th place in the league.
Buffalo will next fly off to Columbus for a matchup with the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night from Nationwide Arena. Face-off is scheduled for 7pm, and the game can be seen on MSG Network.