Helenius gets 1st 3 NHL points, Sabres hold off Predators

NASHVILLE -- Konsta Helenius had a goal and two assists for his first three NHL points, and the Buffalo Sabres held on for a 5-3 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old forward, who was selected with the No. 14 pick by the Sabres in the 2024 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut on Monday in a 2-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes.

“It’s a dream, you know?” Helenius said. “You always dream of scoring a goal in the NHL, and now it happened. It’s a really good feeling.”

Noah Ostlund scored twice, and Peyton Krebs had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (27-17-5), who were 0-1-1 in their previous two games. Alex Lyon, who returned from a lower-body injury, made 31 saves in his first game since Dec. 29.

“It felt pretty good,” Lyon said. “Maybe kind of a nice way to get into the game. Obviously, we started off so hot. Credit to [Helenius, Ostlund and Zach Benson], their line was really humming at the start. I’ve been in this building before, and when those guys turn it on and get going, it’s always a sight to behold. They certainly turned the afterburners on tonight. They really sent it at the end, but we hunkered in. That’s just what good teams do.”

Ryan O'Reilly had two goals and an assist, and Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists for the Predators (23-22-4), who have lost consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 16-24, when they lost three in a row.

Juuse Saros was pulled on the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots. Justus Annunen made 13 saves in relief.

“We didn’t move, we didn’t work, we didn’t compete,” Forsberg said of Nashville’s play in the first period. “They were faster, stronger, they won puck battles. It was pretty simple. We had a choice to make going into the second. It was either quit or actually start trying. I thought we did a great job of that the rest of the game and dominated and pushed hard until the end. But you go down 4-0 in this league, it’s certainly not looking bright for you. I think a huge lesson for us to learn with that start.”

Ostlund gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 8:11 of the first period, scoring on the rebound of a shot from Rasmus Dahlin that deflected off of Helenius. It was Helenius’ first NHL point.

Ostlund then gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead at 11:45 on the rebound of a shot from Helenius.

“They were the best line by far,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Skated well, made every play. Every time they were on the ice they were in the offensive zone. They had six, seven shots on goal. That’s the type of energy you need.”

Helenius scored his first NHL goal to make it 3-0 at 17:24. He buried a wrist shot from the slot on a rush off a pass from Krebs.

Tage Thompson extended the lead to 4-0 at 4:20 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Alex Tuch, chasing Saros.

O’Reilly scored with a wrist shot from the slot during a delayed penalty to make it 4-1 at 10:09 of the second period.

Forsberg pulled the Predators to within 4-2 at 11:54 on a wrist shot from the left circle.

O’Reilly cut it to 4-3 at 9:30 of the third period, scoring blocker side on Lyon off a pass from Luke Evangelista on a rush.

However, Krebs scored an empty-net goal for the 5-3 final at 18:14.

“There’s no consolation, but you saw the team we can be when we get going,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “Buffalo is a really good team, and they’ve been the best team in the League here the last two months. For whatever reason, we thought it’d be easy or we didn’t really bring the level that we’ve brought for a long time, especially at home.”

NOTES: Helenius became seventh Finnish teenager in NHL history with a three-point game, joining Patrik Laine (nine times), Sebastian Aho (three), Aleksander Barkov (two), Hannu Virta (two), Henri Jokiharju and Jesse Puljujarvi. … The Sabres are 5-1-1 in the second half of back-to-back games this season. ... Predators forward Ozzy Wiesblatt returned to the lineup after missing 21 games because of an upper-body injury. He was minus-1 in 11:24 of ice time. … Predators captain Roman Josi played in his 999th NHL game.