Colten Ellis made 37 saves for his first career shutout in the host Buffalo Sabres’ 5-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Josh Doan had two goals and Peyton Krebs, Jack Quinn and defenseman and captain Rasmus Dahlin also scored for the Sabres (49-23-8, 106 points), who won their second straight and remain first in the Atlantic Division. Josh Norris and defenseman Logan Stanley had two assists each.
Jet Greaves stopped 19 shots for the Blue Jackets (39-28-12, 90 points), who are 1-6-1 in their last eight as their playoff chances absorbed a potentially mortal blow.
Krebs gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead with 6:19 left in the first period. He fired in a shot off a 2-on-1 rush from the right circle, Krebs’ off wing, that beat Greaves over his goal pad on the far side. Norris got the lone assist to extend his point streak to four games (five points on a goal and four assists).
The Sabres’ Tage Thompson hit the crossbar with a little over 1:40 remaining in the opening period.
Columbus had a 14-4 shots advantage in the second period, in which Ellis made a number of outstanding saves.
A few of them came during a frenetic sequence in the middle of the period in which the Blue Jackets hit the goal post twice in less than a minute.
Buffalo had only one shot in the first 17 minutes of the second.
Greaves made a big save on Alex Tuch from the slot with 2:26 left in the second period.
Doan made it 2-0 at 7:19 into the third period. He stole the puck from Columbus’ Charlie Coyle at the Blue Jacket’s blue line, skated in and beat Greaves from the inside edge of the left circle.
Quinn’s marker and Doan’s second goal came 25 seconds apart in the third period.
Quinn got his 20th goal with 6:39 left and Doan his 25th with 6:14 remaining.
Dahlin’s empty-net goal with 3:05 left capped things. It was his 19th of the season.
–Field Level Media
