Thompson extends point streak to 10, Sabres hold off Predators for 6th win in row

BUFFALO -- Tage Thompson scored to extend his career-high point streak to 10 games, and the Buffalo Sabres won their sixth straight game, 3-2 against the Nashville Predators at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

Thompson has 11 points (six goals, five assists) during his streak.

“Obviously the team’s playing good hockey. When you’re winning games and you’re playing well, you get individual success that comes from that as well,” Thompson said.

Jason Zucker and Josh Doan scored for the Sabres (38-19-6), who play the second of a back-to-back set against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Alex Lyon, who is 14-0-2 in his past 16 games (15 starts), made 23 saves.

“It took us a while (to find the energy), but once we did, we found ourselves taking over at the end of the second and building momentum into the third,” Doan said. “When we’re rolling, we have four lines that can go play and slow a team down. So getting back to that was the focal point after the first, and I think we did a good job of that.”

Zachary L'Heureux and Matthew Wood scored for the Predators (28-27-8), who have lost four of their past 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 Brunette said. "Unfortunate we start the third period with that goal against and having to chase it. I thought our game was in a really good spot. Lost some momentum there in the second, a couple of little mistakes that we made, but we had our looks at the end, didn’t go in. Lot of good in the game. Kind of a playoff-type game where there wasn’t a lot of room. 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 centering pass from the right corner to L'Heureux in the left face-off circle, where he buried a wrist shot over Lyon's blocker. Marchessault's assist was his 300th in the NHL.

Thompson received a feed from Alex Tuch in the right circle and put a wrist shot that deflected in off Tyson Jost’s stick to get by Saros and tie it 1-1 at 12:39.

“Incredible shot,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “He says to me sometimes, ‘I can score from there.’ Whenever I mention 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 going on the right track.”

Zucker put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 14:17 when he banged the puck in after a shot from Jack Quinn squeaked through Saros and rolled towards 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 Sabres had only two shots on goal. “Especially this time of year. … Everyone’s 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, taking a Josh Norris saucer pass from the goal line and beating Saros with a snap shot from the low slot inside the left post.

With Saros pulled for the extra attacker and the Predators on the power play, Wood tipped Roman Josi's slap shot past Lyon at 16:08 for the 3-2 final.

“[The young players] bring so much energy and I think you see it the way they play, the way they forecheck,” Josi said. “They play physical and just bring a lot of energy. Obviously two big goals by those guys. It’s been fun watching them come in and make an impact right away.”

Forward Sam Carrick had one shot goal in 8:55 of ice time in his Sabres debut after he was acquired from the New York Rangers on Friday before the NHL Trade Deadline. 

"It’s been an absolute blast. I’ve only been here for a day now, but just the energy is unbelievable here," Carrick said. "Obviously, they’ve got a great group, they’ve done great things this year so far, and I’m just coming in trying to complement it as best I can. So far, it’s been awesome."

NOTES: Thompson’s point streak is the longest by a Sabres player since Jeff Skinner also hit 10 games from Nov. 28-Dec. 31, 2022. … It was Buffalo’s 15th comeback win of the season, surpassing their total from all of 2024-25, when they had 14. ... Predators forward Ryan O'Reilly had an assist in his return to the lineup after being scratched with an upper-body injury against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.