Roslovic boosts Blue Jackets to win against Sabres

BUFFALO -- Jack Roslovic scored his first two goals of the season for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 7-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday.

"Yeah, it's fun," said Roslovic, who had an assist. "I think of that as my job and to do that is important, but you learn a lot of things as well. You're consistently learning all the time. There's not many ways to help the team win and we've been playing well. It was a good road trip (2-1-0), and that was a good way to end it."
Max Domi had a goal and two assists, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov scored two goals, and Gregory Hofmann had two assists for the Blue Jackets (10-6-0), who have won three of their past four games.
"I think our line tonight as a whole was great," Domi said. "Jack was unbelievable. It's great to see him get rewarded like that, he's been playing so hard and obviously the puck hasn't always gone his way this year. That's how it goes, it's the game of hockey, so to see him get rewarded was awesome. And obviously 'Hof' jumping in like that was outstanding."
Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves for Columbus in his first start since Nov. 12.
Tage Thompson scored two goals, Dylan Cozens had a goal and an assist, and defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Colin Miller each had two assists for the Sabres (7-9-2), who have lost three straight.
"I think we definitely made it hard on ourselves at times," Thompson said. "Consistency, we've got to do it for a full 60 (minutes). … It was more so just getting a little too cute, I think. A lot more east-west instead of going north, putting pucks behind them, being more direct. I think when we did that, we had success. Maybe we let the success get to us a little bit and tried to change our game instead of sticking with it. So I think that was the biggest thing."
Dustin Tokarski allowed four goals on 12 shots before he was replaced 55 seconds into the second period by Aaron Dell, who made 14 saves on 15 shots.
Thompson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 3:38 of the first period. He scored after Victor Olofsson sent a pass between defenseman Andrew Peeke's legs to Thompson in front of the net.
Roslovic scored to tie the game 1-1 at 8:23. Defenseman Zach Werenski drew attention when he joined the rush and pushed the puck over to Roslovic, who flipped it between Tokarski's left pad and glove.
Roslovic put the Blue Jackets ahead 2-1 at 14:04, but Zemgus Girgensons tied it 2-2 with 0.4 seconds remaining in the period when he tipped in a point shot from Miller on the power play.

"I'm sure for Jack it's kind of a release a little bit," Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. "Goal scorers and offensive guys, when they have a night like that, you can tell they were feeling it right away. They got more ice time, they played really well tonight. That was a good line."
Oliver Bjorkstrand gave the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead when he scored off the rush from the top of the right face-off circle 24 seconds into the second period. Domi scored 31 seconds later from the low slot to make it 4-2 at 55 seconds and chase Tokarski.
The goals are the fastest two to begin a period in Columbus history.

Gavrikov extended it to 5-2 when his shot from the blue line went in off the stick of defenseman Mark Pysyk at 3:41 on the third shot on goal of the period for the Blue Jackets.
Cozens scored from the top of the left circle off the rush to cut it to 5-3 at 4:44, and Thompson narrowed it to 5-4 at 9:55 with a slap shot from the left circle on the power play.
"I think Tage has reached a spot where he's exciting to watch and he can keep you on the edge of your seat because he's capable right now," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "But as far as the potential, I don't think we're seeing anything close to what he's going to become. We just need to keep getting him in situations, his confidence will grow and grow. He's starting to learn how valuable his size, his strength is. … I think when he does it enough, he's going to realize how powerful that is and really take advantage of it. So it is a long way. There's a lot of potential there, but it's fun to see it."
Gavrikov scored into an empty net with 45 seconds remaining to make it 6-4, and Sean Kuraly made it 7-4 with another empty-net goal with 10 seconds left.
NOTES: The previous record for fastest two goals to start a period in Blue Jackets history was 1:18 (March 27, 2010). … Columbus tied its record for fewest games to 10 wins in a season (also 16 in 2010-11 and 2016-17). … Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju had one assist in 15:48 in his first game back from a lower-body injury sustained Oct. 14.