Byram records 2 points in Sabres debut in Nashville

NASHVILLE – Bowen Byram was feeling under the weather on Wednesday when he received the news that he was being traded from the Colorado Avalanche to the Buffalo Sabres.

After calling his friends and new teammates Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs, Byram knew he wanted to meet the Sabres in Nashville to try to play in his first game with his new team.

Feeling better, the defenseman made his way to Nashville and skated at Bridgestone Arena Thursday morning before making his Sabres debut in the evening. Byram wasted no time making an impact, scoring his first goal as a member of the Sabres and adding an assist in a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators.

“… I just decided I wanted to get out here and be with the guys and try to get in the first game,” Byram said prior to the game. “So, it was pretty easy once I started feeling better yesterday to try to get to Nashville and play.”

Buffalo found itself down 1-0 just under four minutes into the game after Nashville capitalized on a power-play opportunity with Zemgus Girgensons in the penalty box for interference. The Predators passed the puck around and Filip Forsberg put the finishing touches on, scoring his first goal of the night from the right circle.

The Sabres responded less than a minute later, when Lukas Rousek cleared the puck out of the Sabres zone and passed to Krebs in the neutral zone. Krebs entered the offensive zone and found Rasmus Dahlin at the point before Dahlin fed the puck to Byram, who skated into the left circle and beat Predators goaltender Juuse Saros short side with a wrist shot on just his third shift of the game.

The Predators added another power-play goal late in the first and carried a 2-1 lead into the final period of play before surging ahead with two third-period tallies by Forsberg to complete his hat trick and extend the Nashville lead to 4-1.

Byram picked up his second point of the night after he carried the puck into the offensive zone and fed Owen Power in the slot for his fifth goal of the season, but the Sabres were unable to cut the deficit any further.

Despite the result, Sabres coach Don Granato liked what he saw in Byram’s debut, especially his chemistry on a pair with Dahlin.

“He’s dynamic,” Granato said. “… And it’s exciting to see the potential of those two players. I thought Dahlin was a little tired tonight – he didn’t execute the way he normally does. But you can see those two together are going to be very, very good for us and it’s exciting to have that and know that even though the outcome tonight was disappointing.”

Byram ended his night with 24:58 of ice time, including time on both the power play and penalty kill, while registering three shots and a blocked shot in addition to his two points.

The 22-year-old became the first defenseman acquired by Buffalo in a trade to record a goal in his debut with the Sabres since Alexei Zhitnik did so on Feb. 15, 1995 and just the third to post multiple points in his debut, joining John Van Boxmeer and Lee Fogolin.

“I think everyone knew coming in he’s an elite talent,” Power said. “I thought he looked really good out there. He’s going up and down the ice making plays and I thought had a real solid game.”

Here’s more from Thursday’s game.

1. Tage Thompson missed the game due to an upper-body injury and is considered day to day, the team announced.

Rousek, who was recalled from Rochester following the trade on Wednesday, skated in his place and recorded one takeaway, one blocked shot, and a plus-one rating in 8:33 of ice time.

2. Granato felt like fatigue made a difference in the game as the Sabres were playing the second game of a back-to-back set after falling in overtime to Toronto on Wednesday and getting in late to Nashville.

"We knew we were going to battle fatigue," he said. "We just couldn't pull through. There were some good things, but obviously, the result wasn't what we wanted."

3. Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie made his first start since Feb. 15 and posted 20 saves on 24 shots in his ninth appearance of the season.

4. Victor Olofsson played in his 300th career game, skating 14:36 while tallying two shots and a plus-two rating.

Up next

The Sabres return home to kick off a three-game homestand at KeyBank Center, which begins with a Saturday matinee against the Edmonton Oilers.

Tickets are available here.

Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at noon with puck drop scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.