Buffalo Sabres – Nashville Predators Game Preview
2/8/25 – 8:00 pm EST at Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
Record
Buffalo – 22-26-5 | 49 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
Nashville – 18-28-7 | 43 points – 7th place in the Central Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 16.2% (27th)
Penalty Kill – 78.6% (18th)
Nashville
Power Play – 21.1% (T-17th)
Penalty Kill – 81.3% (11th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 47 GP, 26 G, 22 A, 48 PTS
JJ Peterka: 51 GP, 15 G, 26 A, 41 PTS
Jason Zucker: 51 GP, 18 G, 22 A, 40 PTS
Nashville
Filip Forsberg: 53 GP, 19 G, 32 A, 51 PTS
Jonathan Marchessault: 53 GP, 16 G, 24 A, 40 PTS
Roman Josi: 49 GP, 9 G, 27 A, 36 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – James Reimer (2-4-1, 2.55 GAA, .908 save %)
Nashville – Juuse Saros (11-23-6, 2.92 GAA, .895 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Forwards
JJ Peterka - Jiri Kulich – Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker - Dylan Cozens - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Ryan McLeod - Jack Quinn
Tyson Kozak – Peyton Krebs - Sam Lafferty
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Owen Power - Connor Clifton
Jacob Bryson - Henri Jokiharju
Ex.: Dennis Gilbert
Goaltenders
James Reimer
Felix Sandstrom
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (IR - middle body)
Mattias Samuelsson (day-to-day – lower body)
Notes
Buffalo’s penalty kill has killed off its last 10 penalties and the team has gone 15-for-16 (93.8 percent) on the penalty kill in the last seven games. The Sabres have earned a win in two of their last three road games in Nashville. The victorious team has scored at least four goals in six of the last seven matchups between the Sabres and the Predators.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 21 assists in his last 19 games and he would match the second-longest assist streak (five games; four times) of his career with an assist in tonight’s game.
Alex Tuch has collected five points (2+3) in his last three games and he is riding a threegame assist streak and a three-game point streak.
In his last four games, Bowen Byram has notched four points (1+3), including at least one point in each of his last two contests. Byram needs one point to reach 100 in his career.
JJ Peterka has tallied nine points (5+4) in his last seven games.
Jiri Kulich has registered seven points (4+3) in his last seven games.
Dennis Gilbert has recorded one assist in back-to-back games and a point in tonight’s game would give him his first point streak of three or more games in his career.
In his last 18 games, Jason Zucker has recorded 19 points (10+9), including seven points (3+4) in his last six games.
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