The Nashville Predators played with fire and got burned.
The pesky Buffalo Sabres peppered a rookie goalie was making his first NHL start and in so doing buried two power play goals after another rookie forward committed a major penalty at the wrong time against an impressive power play unit.
Samson Reinhart scored two goals to power the Sabres to a decisive 4-1 win in Smashville over a difficult-to-play-against Western Conference opponent.
Reinhart has been every bit as good as generational rookie Jack Eichel who has 8 goals and 4 assists for the Sabres.
Reinhart now has six goals and three assists in 23 games played. Reinhart now has 2 power play goals and half of his goals scored are game winning goals.
Eichel and Reinhart are so smart, so creative, so skilled and are so mature beyond their years. Coaches cannot coach the skills that Eichel and Reinhart each possess. It's just unadulterated, God-given talent. Seemingly, both Each have quick release shots and can hold the puck and whip it around with the best passers in the NHL. have eyes on the back of their heads and can see plays 2-3 second before they actually develop. Their maturation and development in manifesting itself right in front of our eyes and it has been extremely impressive to watch up close and personal. Eichel and Reinhart are now lighting the lamp on a regular basis and who's to say that they can't each score between 25-30 goals apiece this season?
The Sabres have scored eight goals in their last two games, both wins, after scoring just seven goals for during their six game winless streak (0-4-2).
Trailing 1-0 at the 11:43 mark of the second period, Preds forward of Viktor Arvidsson was given a five minute major for cross cross checking Sabres D Carlo Colaiacovo. The veteran D was sent to hospital to be treated for a dented trachea.
At the 13:04 mark of Buffalo's all-you-can-eat-buffet-power-play, power winger Jamie McGinn scored his fourth goal of the season on the power.
Reinhart gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead on the power play at 16:13 of the second period on a wrister from the high slot that beat Preds rookie goalie Juuse Saros, who was forced to start after veteran Pekka Rinne ruled himself out due to fatigue. The Preds lost to the Flyers in Philly in a Black Friday matiness. The Preds lost backup goalie Carter Hutton to a lower body injury presumably as a result of the massive collision that he had with Sabres power forward Marcus Foligno on Wednesday night in Buffalo.
Matt Moulson fed Reinhart at the point, wherethe 2014 second overall pick in the NHL Draft buried it behindhigh cheese on Saros
"I just tried to find the soft area," Reinhart said. "I think it was [Sabres forward David Legwand] that kind of handcuffed the defenseman or forward down low and kind of put it behind him, and [Moulson] is great at finding those soft areas and was able to pick the puck up and find me in the high slot."
Reinhart gave the Sabres (10-12-2) a two goal lead just 58 seconds into the third period on a wrist shot from the slot. The Kootenay Kid got some puck luck after his shot on Saros clunked off the rookie tendy's skate and into the net for his sixth goal of the season and second of the game.
"It was nice," Reinhart said. "I was plugging. We were able to stick with it at the end there and get the win. I felt the last couple of games the chances have been getting there, so to finally see a couple go in was a great feeling and great for the confidence."
Recently, Tim Murray paid Reinhart a tremendous compliment by saying that he is never satisfied with his performances and that is is always self-evaluating himself in order to take his game to the highest heights. Murray credits Ryan O'Reilly with being a role model and a sounding board for teh 20 year old Reinhart. The two always stay on the ice for another 30-45 minutes after the coach's practice end. Murray says that earlier this season Reinhart's shot was a "muffin". It was weak and lacked accuracy. Murray gives high praise to Samson for identifying teh problem with his shot and working on a solution to correct is on a daily basis. Reinhart routinely shoots pucks with O'Reilly during "O'Reilly Practice"-- the 30-45 minute players-only session led by ROR.
Sabres de facto captain Ryan O'Reilly threw a dagger though the hearts of the Sabre-toothed Tigers when he deposited an empty-net goal at 17:47 of the third period to make it 4-1.
Peter Laviolette then pulled Saros for the extra attacker but is was to no avail.
In the final analysis, the Sabres had been working hard in close games for the past two weeks, however, they were not being rewarded. They were getting hockey bags full of high percentage scoring chances, however, they could not buy a break. During their six game winless streak, the primary, secondary, and tertiary scoring simply was non-existent for Dan Bylsma's talented team. You knew that it was just a matter of time until the Sabres would break on through to the other side. Their luck changed dramatically and for the better in the first period on Friday night when D Josh Gorges skipped a puck off the ice from the point and it beat Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward. The flood gates opened to quench the Sabres' thirst for more offense when they defeated the Canes 4-1.
There was definitely carry over effect in Smashville on Saturday night when Sabres goaltender Chad Johnson made 28 saves in his second start in two days.
"For us to score goals now and get rewarded for the hard work that we've been putting in in the last bunch of games here, it's nice to see the guys have some smiles on their face and to know that we're getting rewarded," Johnson said. "Personally, I'm doing the same thing I have from the start. We're getting the bounces now and we're getting the puck in the net, so that's going to lead to wins."
O'Reilly scored a goal and had a helper. Evander Kane set up two goals. David Legwand extended his consecutive game scoring streak to three games with an assist.
Legwand was the first-ever Nashville Predators draft pick, taken in the first round (#2 overall) in the 1998 NHL Draft. Legwand played for Nashville from 1998-2014 and is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played (956), goals (210), assists (356) and points (566).
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The Sabres travel to Detroit for a Tuesday night tilt with Pavel Datsyuk, Hank Zetterberg, and Dylan Larkin.
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