Sabres top Blue Jackets, end five-game losing streak

BUFFALO -- Linus Ullmark made 44 saves to help the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Ullmark, recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League on Monday, made 18 saves in the third period in his season debut. The Sabres (11-24-9) ended a five-game losing streak (0-4-1).

It was Ullmark's first NHL win since April 9, 2016. He started 20 games for the Sabres in the 2015-16 season.
WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Sabres highlights]
"It's been my dream ever since last summer to get it all together and come up and play," Ullmark said. "I'm very humble and happy about the win tonight."
Ullmark was called up after Robin Lehner was struck in the neck by a puck in a 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. He made the most of his opportunity against Columbus.
"He's very calm, he doesn't overplay things, he's pretty tight and he's pretty square to the puck, and he makes that first save and he fought through some traffic to make the second save," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "He stepped up, he was on his angle and he was challenging, and you could see the confidence in his game."
Artemi Panarin scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Blue Jackets (25-17-3), who had won two straight and three of four (3-1-0).

Benoit Pouliot gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 11:41 of the first period when he put in a rebound of a shot by Kyle Okposo past Bobrovsky for his ninth goal.

Pouliot returned to the lineup after he was a healthy scratch on Tuesday.
"I was kind of off the past few games and that's why I sat a couple games," Pouliot said. "Tonight I was trying to do as much as I could in front of the net. [Jack Eichel] and [Okposo] are so good with the puck in the corners and getting off checks and stuff for me just to go in front and get the chances."
Okposo made it 2-0 at 7:18 of the third period when a puck dumped into the Blue Jackets' zone by Evander Kane took a funny hop off the Zamboni door in the corner right to Okposo, who shot it past Bobrovsky after the goalie left the net to play the puck.
"That's a little gift from the hockey gods tonight for me and for the team," Okposo said. "It was a nice bounce to get. I felt like just trying to work, and when you work you seem to get those bounces. And there's times when you're not going to get them so you've got to take them when they're there and try to keep working to create your own luck."
Rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle assisted on Okposo's goal for his first NHL point.
Panarin made it 2-1 at 13:45 with a power-play goal when he skated through the neutral zone and toward the Sabres' net, deked, and took a backhand shot that beat Ullmark over his left shoulder for his 12th goal.
"I've been impressed with [Panarin] from Day One as far as what he can do," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "That goal he scores, he's on the ice for two minutes prior. Yeah, he's an impressive player."

Eichel scored into an empty net with six seconds remaining for his 18th goal to make it 3-1.

Goal of the game

Okposo's goal at 7:18 of the third period.

Save of the game

Ullmark's glove save against Seth Jones at 10:05 of the second period

Highlight of the game

Panarin's goal at 13:45 of the third period

They said it

"They have one or two chances the second and third period. We have the puck most of the time, but it's just not enough rebounds. We hit a couple of posts, a crossbar, but we're not in the inside enough. Their goalie played very well. I think for us to beat him, a big, athletic goalie like that, we need to get some rebounds." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"I think we were just harder. We were quicker to close. Obviously, Linus did a heck of a job in goal, but I thought that we just really committed to the battles. I thought we supported each other really well in the defensive zone. There were some times where they had some pressure and we made some good plays to break the puck out. I think that's going to be a really big thing for us moving forward." -- Sabres right wing Kyle Okposo

Need to know

Jones has at least one assist in three straight games and five in that span. … Columbus center Alex Wennberg returned after missing the previous eight games with a back injury. … Ullmark's 44 saves are the most by a Sabres goalie in a win since Anders Nilsson made 46 in a 2-1 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 19, 2016.

What's next

Blue Jackets:Host the Vancouver Canucks on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Sabres:At the New York Rangers on Thursday, Jan. 18 (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, MSG, NHL.TV)