NASHVILLE – The Buffalo Sabres' top road kills this season have been impressive: Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Colorado, Vegas, Boston. Even the tiny new college arena in Arizona.
And now, Music City USA.
The Sabres' struggles at home really came to the fore with three losses in four days that started Monday. But the NHL's youngest team has also shown quite a propensity for getting the job done in some of the league's most hostile, harried and hip environments.
The Sabres pulled it off again Saturday night, silencing a raucous crowd of 17,761 in Bridgestone Arena with a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators.
The victory snapped the three-game slide and got the Sabres to the halfway mark of the season with a record of 21-18-2. That's an 88-point pace, which wouldn't be enough to make the playoffs but would be the franchise's highest total since it had 89 in 2011-12.
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The Sabres saw a 3-1 lead disintegrate as Nashville scored two goals in a 40-second span late in the second period to get even. But Buffalo broke back ahead at 6:45 of the third on a short-handed goal from captain Kyle Okposo, who deftly tipped home an Ilya Lyubushkin shot between his legs for his seventh goal of the season.
"I don't really think (the game) was going south," Okposo said. "I just think they got a couple of quick goals. I never felt like we were out of control in the entire game, to be honest with you. I felt like we're in pretty solid control of that whole game and we just knew we needed to come out in the third period and play the way that we know how."
Rookie Jack Quinn gave the Sabres breathing room with 3:11 left on his seventh goal of the season – and first since Dec. 4. He agreed with the notion the Sabres' young players don't feel much pressure on the road.
"We're probably not thinking like that to be honest. We're just having fun playing and playing with a lot of energy," Quinn said. "Kind of letting the results take care of themselves. It's great. Even just the first time playing in all these buildings, it's cool to look around and see a packed barn and be able to try to steal two points from their team. It's an exciting challenge."
A strong third period -- which included 17 of goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's 36 saves -- showed again how the Sabres stave off panic on the road, even though they are the NHL's youngest team. Buffalo is just 9-11-2 at home but is 12-7-0 on the road.
"It's a great sign, first of all to be able to handle that pressure," coach Don Granato said before the game. "I really think there's more pressure on us at home because our guys care so much. They care about our fans, they care about our city ... and it's evident to me they put more pressure and it becomes negative pressure on themselves at home than they would on on the road."
Afterward, Granato had more effusive praise for his team.
"A great building, good atmosphere, loud building and our guys again used it to their advantage," the coach said. "They felt extremely comfortable in it and had a really, really good finish. I've been in here many times with different NHL teams and I've seen different scenarios where players and teams succumb to that noise and crowd. Proud of our guys they didn't do that, especially our young guys."
Here are some other items on the game:
1. Okposo's winning goal
The Buffalo captain showed great hands with his spectacular tip that capped a strong shift. After Mattias Samuelsson swept the puck out of the crease to prevent a go-ahead goal for the Predators, Okposo nearly got a breakaway before the puck strayed to the corner. He stayed with it, made a pass to the point and got in perfect position to redirect Lyubushkin's shot.
"It's just the play. That's where the puck was so that's what needed to happen and great play by 'Boosh'," Okposo said. "That's how I was gonna get the puck in the net."
"Just his relentlessness. He's a worker and he's a leader by virtue so so that was vintage Kyle Okposo," Granato said. "The work in combination with that grind and then to finish you see a fine touch of skill."
Kyle Okposo SHG, 4-3 #LetsGoBuffalo #Smashville pic.twitter.com/04fkqekKyk
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) January 15, 2023
2. The rest of the offense
Jeff Skinner's breakaway at 11:37 of the first period was his 17th goal of the season. The Sabres had 13 of the game's first 16 shots in the first period and took charge in the second period on Dylan Cozens' breakaway at 2:05 and Victor Olofsson's power-play goal at 8:58. It was No 17 on the season for Olofsson and No. 14 for Cozens, both on pace to far exceed their career highs.
Tage Thompson went without a goal for the fourth straight game, a drought he has not had since October. But he was much more dangerous than recent games, with a team-high seven shots on goal and 10 attempts.
The Nashville comeback came with defenseman Jeremy Lauzon ripping a one-timer from the left circle past Luukkonen at 15:10 off the second Ryan Johansen netting a tip from in front to make it 3-3 at 15:50.
3. The kid line
Quinn and Peterka were back in the lineup after sitting out two games as healthy scratches and returned to the wings with Cozens. Both of them were move active than they were in weeks, Peterka early and Quinn with several chances in the decisive third before finally cashing.
Quinn was the only Sabre with two points in the game and nearly had a third as he made the defensive play to turn the puck over on Cozens' goal but Cozens tipped it before Peterka made the pass, wiping out an assist for Quinn.
"They were fresh. They looked fresh mentally, physically," Granato said. "And they were dangerous all night."
"We were excited to get back in the lineup. And we had fun out there," Quinn said. "I think just our line was kind of finding our game again. We had some of that success early on and tailed off as of late. So it's good to kind of get back to that."
4. Back in the saddle
Longtime former Bisons and Sabres announcer Pete Weber, the voice of the Predators since their inception in 1998, was back in the radio booth Saturday night just five days after having brain surgery.
Weber had a shunt procedure to remedy normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), which had dogged him since the team's European trip in October and left him lacking balance and in danger of falls.
Weber, a member of the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame, won't be traveling for a few weeks but had progressed so quickly this week that doctors gave him the go-ahead to work the game against his old team.
Weber was one of the most prominent sports voices in Buffalo in the 80s and 90s, calling the Bisons' glory days in then-Pilot Field and also doing analysis work on Bills games in the Super Bowl years and Sabres games in the final season of Memorial Auditorium and the opening of then-Marine Midland Arena.
5. Next
The Sabres will get back to work Sunday to prepare for another back to back. They host Florida in a Martin Luther King Day matinee Monday at 1 and then play Tuesday night at Chicago. Then comes a big one Thursday, as they will stage Ryan Miller Night and retire the former goaltender's No. 30 prior to the game against the New York Islanders.
