Zachary L’Heureux and Matthew Wood scored for the Predators (28-27-8), who have lost four of their last five games (1-3-1). Juuse Saros made 21 saves.
“I thought we played a good hockey game. It was a battle,” Nashville coach Andrew Morena said. “Unfortunately we started the third period with that goal down and we had to chase it. I thought our game was in a really good place. We lost some momentum in the second, made a couple of little mistakes, but in the end we had our looks and didn’t go in. A lot of good in the game. It’s a playoff type game where there wasn’t a lot of space. They’re a really good team.”
L’Heureux’s first of the season gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 1:17 of the second period. Jonathan Marchessault sent a center pass from the right corner to L’Heureux in the left faceoff circle, where he drilled a wrist shot over the Lyon blocker. Marchessault’s assist was his 300th in the NHL.
Thompson received a pass from Alex Tuch in the right circle and launched a wrist shot that deflected off Tyson Jost’s stick past Saros and tied the score at 1-1 at 12:39.
“Unbelievable shot,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “Sometimes he tells me, ‘I can score from there.’ Every time I mention that maybe he should have passed, he says, ‘Well, I can score from there.’ And he does. He’s scored a lot of important goals for us. That was an important goal to get some energy in the building and get us on the right path.”
Zucker put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 14:17 when he tapped in the puck after Jack Quinn’s shot went past Saros and rolled toward the goal line.
“It was good for us to have a tough period and have to respond to it,” Zucker said of the first period, in which the Sabers only had two shots on goal. “Especially this time of year…Everyone is in playoff mode right now. It was good for us to be able to regroup after a tough first period and come out and play our game in the second and third.”
Doan made it 3-1 just 16 seconds into the third period, receiving a pass from Josh Norris from the goal line and beating Saros with a shot from the low slot inside the left post.