Following last night's overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Buffalo Sabres had no time to dwell on the defeat as they were back at it again tonight against the Nashville Predators. This would be the final time Buffalo and Nashville would see each other for the reason after the Predators beat the Sabres at home back in December.
With how bad it's been for Buffalo this year, there was a reason to be excited tonight. Newly acquired defenseman Bowen Byram was playing in his first game with the Sabres after being traded from the Colorado Avalanche which saw Casey Mittelstadt going to Colorado. Eric Comrie was in between the pipes tonight with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen playing last night.
Buffalo took three penalties in the first 20 minutes and the Predators scored on two of them. Filip Forsberg gave Nashville the 1-0 lead after an early penalty courtesy of the Sabres. Over a minute later, Byram scored his first goal as a Sabre on his first shot which was a beauty, making the game 1-1.
WELCOME TO BUFFALO, BOWEN BYRAM 🚨 pic.twitter.com/CAahAPbliV
— NHL (@NHL) March 8, 2024
In the last few minutes of the first period, the Predators got the lead back again and there was no more scoring as the first period came to an end a couple of minutes after.
In the period, Forsberg scored two straight goals to get a hat trick. The second goal was a result of every Sabres player standing around and looking at the puck. For his third goal, he was able to perform a wrap-around, as the puck hit Comrie's pad and went into the net. It was 4-1 Nashville in a matter of a few minutes.
After having a lackluster power play, the Sabres cut the lead to two as Owen Power scored after receiving a nice pass from Byram. That was all the scoring in the game and Buffalo lost on back-to-back nights.
Postgame thoughts
Not much needs to be said about this game. Aside from Byram getting two points in his debut, the Sabres looked flat, plain and simple. What I don't get is why would the NHL have Buffalo play a back-to-back with the team going from Toronto to Nashville the following night. It makes no sense. I'm not using that as an excuse but I don't get the mindset.
The Sabres will have one day off as they will host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon.