Coming off a late-game breakdown, the Buffalo Sabres look to rebound on Friday against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Sabres returned home Wednesday riding the momentum of a 3-0-1 road trip and held a 1-0 lead over the Ottawa Senators through 51 minutes of play. Shane Pinto then equalized for the Senators at 11:33 into the third period, and Ottawa’s Michael Amadio followed up at the 16:51 mark for the deciding goal of the 2-1 result.
Head coach Lindy Ruff felt “we got outskated (and) we got outworked” in Buffalo’s first loss this season after leading through two periods (3-1-0).
“With three minutes left, we’ve taken a lot of pride in not giving up something like that when points mean big points,” Ruff said. “And we give up an odd-numbered rush again. … We need to eliminate those high-risk opportunities we handed them.”
The Sabres are 3-4-0 in Buffalo this season and are averaging a league-low 2.14 goals per game on home ice.
Scoring anywhere has been a challenge for the Blue Jackets, whose 36 goals are the fewest in the NHL. Despite the lack of offense, the Jackets have been grinding out results in close games and got some late-game magic of their own on Thursday.
Trailing the Dallas Stars 1-0 at 16:46 of the third period, defenseman Zach Werenski scored the equalizer for the Jackets. Columbus then prevailed in the shootout for a 2-1 victory, improving to 5-0 in games decided beyond regulation this season.
“That’s the kind of brand of hockey that we want to play right now,” said goalie Cam Talbot, who stopped 27 of 28 shots. “That’s a tight-checking game. … We didn’t give up much, we bided our time, (Werenski) got us a big goal, and we’ve got some pretty good shooters in the shootout. We’ll take it.”
Since Talbot played Thursday, Jet Greaves likely will start the second game of the back-to-back. Greaves is 2-5-0 with an .883 save percentage and 3.11 goals-against average in eight games, as his struggles have turned his starting role into more of a timeshare.
Colten Ellis’ strong performance has earned him the bulk of recent playing time over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the Sabres’ net.
Ellis could get another start Friday if Buffalo wants to stick with the hotter goalie, although Luukkonen might get another chance.
Alex Lyon (upper body) and Conor Timmins (lower body) might see their first action of the season after sustaining injuries in preseason play.
Kent Johnson leads Columbus in goals (seven) and points (14). The forward has nine points (three goals, six assists) over a six-game points streak.
Tage Thompson leads the Sabres in goals (10) and points (18). Zach Benson has a team-leading 12 assists.
The Blue Jackets are 1-4-0 on the road this season, and 0-2-0 in the second game of back-to-backs.
Both teams are near the bottom of the league in power-play percentage. The Sabres are 8-for-49 (16.3%) with the extra attacker, and the Blue Jackets are 6-for-37 (16.2%).
In their first meeting of the season, the Jackets got a 6-3 win over the Sabres in Columbus on Oct. 1.