The Columbus Blue Jackets ended the visiting Buffalo Sabres’ 10-game winning streak with a 5-1 victory on Saturday.
Denton Mateychuk, Brendan Gaunce, Dmitri Voronkov, Mathieu Olivier and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won four of their past five games. Jet Greaves made 32 saves.
Josh Doan scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 30 saves for the Sabres, who lost for the first time since Dec. 8.
Mateychuk gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 3:00 of the first period. Boone Jenner left a drop pass for the defenseman inside the blue line, and Mateychuk fired a wrist shot from above the right circle that beat Luukkonen inside the far post.
With his assist, Jenner moved within one of tying Cam Atkinson (402) for third in points in Blue Jackets history.
Doan tied it 1-1 at 11:26. Owen Power spotted Josh Norris below the left circle, and the center dished a feed through the crease to Doan on the back door for the tap-in.
It was Doan’s 12th goal of the season in his 40th game, matching his career total in 62 games entering this season.
Gaunce put Columbus back in front with a short-handed tally at 14:04. After Sabres center Tage Thompson stumbled inside the offensive blue line, Gaunce collected the loose puck, skated up the right side, then cut to the middle inside the zone and snapped the puck past Luukkonen from the slot for a 2-1 advantage.
Voronkov increased the lead to 3-1 at 17:12 when his deflection of Ivan Provorov’s shot from above the left circle leaked through Luukkonen’s five-hole.
Olivier extended to 4-1 at 8:04 of the second period. Zach Aston-Reese lobbed the puck through the neutral zone, and Olivier collected it and slipped a backhand by Luukkonen from the bottom of the left circle.
With the teams skating 4-on-4 with just over nine minutes to go in the third, the Sabres pulled Luukkonen for an extra attacker. Sillinger scored on the empty net at 11:46 to make it 5-1.
–Field Level Media
