Trotz said. \'Tonight we managed the puck better. We exited be

BUFFALO, N. Panthers DeAngelo Williams Two Tone Jersey .Y. -- After watching his team fail to hold a big lead in its previous game, Barry Trotz was happy to watch the Predators build another and hold on for a win. "Last night we cheated in a couple areas," Trotz said. "Tonight we managed the puck better. We exited better. All those type of things were much better for us." Nashville scored twice in a five-minute span in the second period on the way to a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. It marked the second straight win for the Predators, who lost a 3-0 advantage in Ottawa on Monday before beating the Senators in overtime. "We werent going to let that happen two games in a row," said Colin Wilson, who had two assists for Nashville. Shea Weber had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who also got goals from Nick Spaling, Craig Smith and Paul Gaustad. Drew Stafford scored for Buffalo, which has lost three in a row. After Nashville built a 3-1 lead, backup goaltender Carter Hutton helped stave off a Buffalo attack that controlled possession and outshot Nashville 11-5 in the second period. "Keeping that two-goal lead going into the third was pretty huge for us, confidence heading out there," Hutton said. "After last night, we knew we were going to lock it down and play our game." Hutton had allowed multiple goals in eight consecutive starts entering the game, but was stout on Tuesday. "Hutton was really good," Trotz said. "He stabilized us when they had a little push." The Predators arrived in Buffalo after 2 a.m. after Mondays game at Ottawa and skipped their morning skate before having to fight off a slow start to Tuesdays game. "It was penalties right off the bat," Trotz said. "First five minutes, we were killing the four. Thats a hard way to get going, especially when youre in back-to-back. Those are hard minutes." An early power play helped Buffalo take a 1-0 lead at 2:09 of the first as Stafford pulled a rebound away from Huttons left pad to score his 12th goal of the season. The goal ended a 0-for-11 slump for the Sabres power play, and came in Staffords 500th career NHL game. Yet aside from Staffords line, Buffalo had trouble generating offence. "There was only one line basically going," Sabres interim head coach Ted Nolan said. "Youre not going to win too many games doing that." Nashvilles equalizer came at the 17:10 mark of the first period, as Spaling used his skate to deflect a Weber shot past Jhonas Enroth. The power-play goal came on Nashvilles only attempt with the man advantage. Tied at 1 after 20 minutes, Weber picked up a drop pass from Wilson and beat Enroth to make it 2-1 at the 3:33 mark of the second. Smith doubled Nashvilles advantage at 7:51. His low slap shot from just in front of the blue line beat Enroth between the legs. The goal was Smiths 20th of the season, a career best. "Its great, a good feeling," Smith said. "We just have to keep moving forward, trying to make a little push here." The game was a shaky one for Enroth, who had played well since Buffalo traded Ryan Miller to St. Louis on Feb. 28. Buffalos Zenon Konopka was challenged to fight by Gaustad at 9:20 of the second after the Sabres forward put an open-ice hit on Viktor Stalberg. Gaustad received a two-minute instigator and 10-minute misconduct in addition to his fighting major. Trotz thought the penalty was questionable, and appreciated Gaustads response. "To me that was a really good glue play," Trotz said. "We thought it was a questionable hit and thats what you want your team to stand up for each other. "Gaustad knows how tough Konopka is, and thats why hes so valuable to us. He brings those intangibles. He does whats right and is very detailed in his game." Hutton made a big save on Tyler Ennis moments later. Stafford worked the puck behind the net before passing to Cody Hodgson, whose high shot was gloved by the Nashville goaltender. "He made a bunch of great saves that kept us in it," Wilson said of Hutton. "It could have been a bit of a different game if they got a couple at the beginning there." The Sabres finished 1 for 4 on the power play. Gaustad added an empty-net goal at the 18:29 mark of the third period to a chorus of boos from a crowd that chanted his nickname "Goose" when he was a Sabre. "We joked about that," Gaustad said. "I didnt know when I was here if they were booing me or saying my name. Some of the best fans and people on Earth. Salt of the earth people." Nashville finishes a three-game road trip on Friday in Chicago, while Buffalo begins a stretch of playing 12 of its next 17 on the road. "Their confidence is a little bit rattled right now," Nolan said. "But through tough times like this you find out true character of certain players and through some ashes sometimes there rises some people." NOTES: Sabres LW Matt Ellis played in his 300th NHL game. ... Patrick Eaves was scratched after going pointless in his first three games with the Predators after being acquired in a trade with Detroit for David Legwand. ... Sabres rookie C Zemgus Girgensons missed his third game with an undisclosed injury. http://www.panthersstore.us.com/Customized/ . 6. Poile suffered a fractured orbital bone and fractures in his nose when he was hit during Nashvilles morning skate in Minnesota nearly two weeks ago. He had two surgeries that afternoon and returned home to Nashville three days later. Panthers Luke Kuechly Autographed Jersey . -- All talk and no major changes didnt make this a dull NHL general managers meeting.ARLINGTON, Texas -- While manager Lloyd McClendon is no fan of the transfer rule, he certainly has no problem challenging the application of it to get the Seattle Mariners a run. Seattle had a six-run outburst in an inning that included three Texas errors and an overturned call that led to the ejection of Rangers manager Ron Washington during the Mariners 7-1 victory Monday night. Seattle had the bases loaded in the sixth, already with four runs in, when Brad Miller hit a comebacker. Relief pitcher Pedro Figueroa threw home, and umpire Paul Schrieber initially ruled a forceout even though catcher J.P. Arencibia bobbled the ball on a transfer without dropping it or making a throw. McClendon challenged, and the call was reversed after a replay review of 3 minutes, 31 seconds. That erased the out and gave Seattle another run. "I thought it was a clear violation of the rules," McClendon said. "It was an impactful play." Asked his feeling on the transfer rule, which is being enforced more closely with expanded replay this season, the manager responded, "I wish it would all go away, but it is what it is, and we just have to deal with it." Arencibia, charged with an error, said he was off the plate before losing control of the ball. "I think thats something that baseball needs to clean up because there are a lot of plays that have happened this year that are outs and giving teams extra outs," Arencibia said. "I dont think its baseball. Outfielders who have caught the ball and run four steps after they catch it, run into the wall and turn and throw the ball in and it falls out, and automatically safe. It doesnt make sense." Roenis Elias (1-1) allowed one run and struck out five over 6 2-3 innings for his first major league victory. The left-hander, who defected from Cuba to Mexico in 2010, has a 2.16 ERA in three career starts. "I came here to make it to the big leagues. I knew I could pitch in the big leagues," Elias said through a translator. "I was throwing my pitches like I wanted. The curveball I threw today is what I normally throw." The Mariners went ahead to stay on Mike Zuninos solo homer in the fifth off Colby Lewis (0-1), who made his first big league start inn 21 months after elbow and hip operations. Panthers Luke Kuechly Two Tone Jersey. Zunino added an RBI single in that wild sixth that started with Robinson Canos leadoff single. Cano scored on Michael Saunders triple to left-centre -- a ball that centre fielder Leonys Martin bobbled without getting charged with an error. Kyle Seager followed with an RBI single that chased Lewis, and then things got interesting. Dustin Ackley and Zunino had consecutive RBI singles after Arencibia couldnt pull in a foul ball before reaching out and teetering over a camera-well railing. Mix in two fielding errors, and the bases were loaded. Washington immediately came out to argue after the overturned call and was ejected by crew chief Ted Barrett because managers arent allowed to argue replay rulings. Washingtons ejection came a night after Boston manager John Farrell became the first big league skipper tossed under those circumstances this season. "It was obvious he caught the ball, the runner was at least 9 or 10 feet from home plate, making his move away from home plate so he dont have contact, you go to get the ball and he drops it," Washington said. "Im all for the review, but still that dont mean you have to agree with some of the calls that go on because of review." Umpires in New York confirmed the play was overturned because Arencibia never had secure possession while transferring the ball from his glove to his hand. Lewis made his first major league start since July 18, 2012, allowing four runs (three earned) over 5 1-3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. The 34-year-old Lewis had right hip resurfacing surgery last August. He is the first known major league pitcher to come back after the procedure to remove bone spurs without a full hip replacement. "Id like to thank the Texas Rangers and the organization for giving me an opportunity tonight. It wouldnt have meant as much for me to get back out there without having this uniform on," Lewis said. "Overall, I felt great. Everything was really, really good." NOTES: Seattle had gone 21 consecutive innings without a run before Zuninos third homer. ... Texas scored a single run for the third time in four games -- the others were 1-0 victories over Houston. ' ' '