The Blue Jackets fell to 1-2-1 in the preseason Saturday afternoon with a 4-3 setback at Buffalo in the KeyBank Center.
Game in a Paragraph
Columbus’ youngsters showed out in the first two periods, with Kirill Marchenko, David Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk and Kent Johnson all helping to set up goals. The Blue Jackets led 2-0 after a period and 3-1 after two, but Buffalo tied it in the opening half of the third and took the lead in the final six minutes. The Sabres scored three power-play goals for the difference in the game.
CBJ Standouts
- Playing the center position, Patrik Laine scored twice in the game.
- Justin Danforth got on the board with his first of the preseason.
- Emil Bemstrom had a pair of assists.
Quick Recap
Columbus got on the board twice in the opening period to take a 2-0 lead into intermission. The first goal at the 12:02 mark was a team effort, as Marchenko caused a turnover in the neutral zone and got the puck deep, Bemstrom made a hit to jar it loose, and Marchenko centered a pass to Laine in the slot for a quick shot past goalie Devon Levi. Then at 15:50, it was 2-0, as Johnson went behind the net with the puck and made a spinning backhand pass to Danforth at the back post for a chip over Levi.
Laine needed just 23 seconds in the second period to make it a 3-0 game, but Jiricek did the work, skating through the Buffalo defense to get to the net front before passing it to Laine for the easy finish over the prone Levi. Buffalo then got on the board at the 10:28 mark on the power play, as Erik Gudbranson blocked Jeff Skinner’s shot, but the Sabre recollected it, worked through traffic and slid a shot past Elvis Merzlikins.
Buffalo cut the CBJ lead in half just 2:03 into the final period on a goal by Henri Jokiharju, who came into the zone with speed and fired through the legs of Merzlikins from the right dot. Skinner then netted his second of the game to tie the score with 10:40 left, tallying from the low slot on the power play. Zach Benson put Buffalo ahead with 5:46 to go, jumping on a rebound of a shot off Merzlikins’ mask for Buffalo’s third power-play goal of the night and a 4-3 lead.
Notable
Columbus was outshot by a 31-28 margin. … Buffalo was 3-6 on the power play while the Blue Jackets were scoreless in two tries. … The Marchenko/Laine/Bemstrom line finished plus-2. ... Kyle Okposo had three assists for Buffalo.
Roster Report
Here is a link to the roster the Blue Jackets used for the game. It was the preseason debut for Marchenko and defenseman Ivan Provorov, while Laine, Gudbranson and Zach Werenski wore the alternate captain “A” on the sweater.
Up Next
The Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena for three games in the span of four days, starting with a Monday night contest against St. Louis at 7 p.m. The Jackets also welcome Buffalo to town on Wednesday and host Washington on Thursday.
