Nashville opened the game with an offensive push and a drawn power play, as Zemgus Girgensons headed to the box for interference. Filip Forsberg scored to make it 1-0 Preds at 3:53, but Bowen Byram, playing in his first game for the Sabres after being traded from Colorado, got it back almost immediately.
The next stretch continued to go poorly for the Preds, from a second power play–another interference penalty, this one from Rasmus Dahlin–where they struggled to generate any offense and gave up a shorthanded chance, to a sequence of Buffalo pressure that led to Roman Josi high-sticking Peyton Krebs, but the Preds were able to kill the penalty and get back on their feet.