Forsberg, Skjei Each Tally Twice, O’Reilly Has Four Assists, Preds Beat Sabres as NHL Break Arrives

Novak, Marchessault Also Score, Nashville Snaps Skid at Six Games as 4 Nations Face-Off Arrives.

Filip Forsberg and Brady Skjei each tallied twice, Ryan O’Reilly dished out four assists and the Nashville Predators defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a 6-4 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result halts the Preds winless skid at six games with a pair of points as they head into a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

 

Tommy Novak and Jonathan Marchessault also found the back of the net for the Preds, O’Reilly’s four helpers set a career-high for the centerman and Justus Annunen made 25 saves in net to send Nashvile into the break with a win to enjoy.

 

“It feels good,” Skjei said of the win. “I mean, obviously we’ve had a tough stretch here and kind of got away from the things we were doing well for awhile there, but this one feels good. Always feels nice going into a little break with a win, and then we’re able to kind of decompress a little bit and take a little time and get your body feeling good again. [When we] come back, we’ve got some more things to prove. So, tonight was great. A lot of guys had great games and stepped up, so it’s something we can be proud of.”

 

“Gutsy,” Forsberg said of the effort. “I thought it wasn’t our best game overall, but we found a way to compete all the way through 60 [minutes]. And, you know, got really good goaltending when we needed it, the guys were sacrificing blocking shots. I mean, seeing that one at the end with [Nick Blankenburg] is unbelievable. That’s what it took. We were able to do that tonight, which was huge.”

 

Nashville struck first on the night as Novak snapped a shot past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on an odd-man rush for his second tally in as many nights, and then Skjei made it 2-0 as he finished off a pretty passing play with Jonathan Marchessault and O’Reilly.

 

Buffalo battled back before the opening frame was out and tied the game with goals from Bowen Byram and Rasmus Dahlin, but in the second stanza, the Preds got their lead back. First, Forsberg tapped in a Roman Josi shot at the side of the net for his 20th marker of the campaign, and then Skjei potted his second of the evening with a wrister from the slot.

 

“A couple nice goals, especially off the rush,” Forsberg said. “[The Sabres] are a high-flying offensive team that you don’t really want to trade chances with too much, which I think we did, but at least we were executing on the offensive side.”

 

The Sabres got one back before the middle period was out from Alex Tuch, and in the final frame, Forsberg recorded his second of the night with a top-shelf snipe. But then, Buffalo scored one of their own on a power play, and then they appeared to tie the game at 5-5 – until the Preds challenged for offside.

 

Nashville Video Coaches Lawrence Feloney and Andrew Meloche made the call to take the Buffalo goal off the board, and as the Sabres continued to push, a huge block from Blankenburg led to Marchessault icing things with an empty-netter late in regulation.

 

“The hockey hasn’t been great as of late, [but] tonight it’s good,” O’Reilly said. “We found a way to win, and there’s some great desperation plays and some blocks. Everyone was a part of it. Everyone was doing whatever they could to win, and that’s a good team over there. They skate well, they’re fast, they make plays, and we had some big defensive plays that were able to squeak it out.”

 

A two-week break between games in the middle of the season is certainly a unique circumstance, but as most of the Preds head off to different locales, the sentiment is to find a moment to take a breath after discovering some joy in their last outing before the hiatus – an ideal way to finish things up.

 

“I think it’s a good reset for us,” O’Reilly said. “Kind of like I said, it’s been frustrating, and it’s kind of nice for all of us to step away from the game and get that hunger back. And when things aren’t going well, it’s tough coming to the rink and [you want to be] proud of your game, and this is a chance to kind of just get away, take a reset and come back. We want to be hungry and this is an opportunity that we have to do that.”

“I want them to breathe a little bit,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “Take a step back, reassess, find some energy, try to let it go a little bit; I think our team has been so wound tight all year, and it’s been tough on everybody. Obviously, our expectations from the outside were tremendous, and I think even with our players, we thought it’d be a little bit easier than it was, and it hasn’t been, and we’ve had a hard time really getting our footing… It was good to get it tonight. And not losing our focus, but taking a break, taking a breather, coming back, ready to invest in what we’re trying to do and build an identity. I think that’s so important. We’ve tried all year. We’ve gotten it for a while, and we’ve let it slip. Can we go for the next stretch of games and build that identity moving forward, that we bring it every night? Can we find that consistency? And that’s kind of going to be our goal as we go through this.”

 

Notes:

 

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Predators recalled forward Ozzy Wiesblatt from Milwaukee (AHL) and placed forward Mark Jankowski on Injured Reserve with his upper-body injury.

 

Preds winger Zach L’Heureux did not play Saturday and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, while defenseman Adam Wilsby missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury.

 

Per NHL Stats, Ryan O’Reilly (133 GP) became the seventh-fastest player in Predators history to 100 points with the club. The only others to reach the mark in fewer games are Steve Sullivan (94 GP), Paul Kariya (98 GP), Jason Arnott (119 GP), Cliff Ronning (125 GP), J-P Dumont (126 GP) and Ryan Johansen (132 GP).

 

Filip Forsberg (20-33—53) became the seventh Swedish-born player in NHL history to record nine or more 20-goal seasons behind Mats Sundin (17), Daniel Alfredsson (13), Markus Naslund (12), Daniel Sedin (11), Mika Zibanejad (9) and Gabriel Landeskog (9).

 

Forsberg tallied his 56th game-winning goal to mark the most by an active Swedish player. Elias Lindholm (46) and William Nylander (46) have the next highest total.

 

Forsberg and Gustav Nyquist (Sweden), and Juuse Saros (Finland) will now head to Montreal to participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off, along with Preds Head Athletic Trainer Kevin Morley (USA). The Predators will then return to game action on Feb. 22 when they host the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena.