Eichel, Sabres end Blue Jackets winning streak at six

BUFFALO -- Jack Eichel scored 36 seconds into overtime when the Buffalo Sabres ended the Columbus Blue Jackets' six-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

Evan Rodrigues scored, and Carter Hutton made 22 saves for the Sabres (23-22-7), who ended a three-game losing streak.
"It's a big win for the group," said Eichel, who scored for a third straight game. "I thought we hunkered down, it's a good hockey team. Obviously, they're fighting for points right now, too. They're arguably one of the hotter teams in the League right now. Give them credit, I thought they played really well. It was good to see us find a way to get a win. It was a huge goal by Roddy in the first and we made some big plays when we needed to, Hutts had some huge saves and we find a way to win this."
WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Sabres highlights]
Hutton got his first win since Oct. 22. He had been 0-8-4.
"It's obviously great to get the win," Hutton said. "Like I've said a few times, there's obviously a lot more going on than what everyone knows with the information and stuff but I just try to stick with it. I've played for a long time here, it wasn't like I just fell off a cliff here."
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored, and Matiss Kivlenieks made 22 saves for the Blue Jackets (27-16-9), who lost for the second time in their past 10 games (8-2-0). It was their first game since a 4-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 22.
"We'll take the point and go. That's a big point for us, coming back in the third period," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "I thought we fought the puck at times."
Bjorkstrand scored at 5:45 of the third period, picking up a deflected pass in the slot to tie the game at 1-1. It was his team-leading 17th goal of the season, including seven in his past four games.

"We just stick with it, we stay patient," Bjorkstrand said. "I think everybody has that belief that even though we're behind, we can bet back in the game and win it. We've just got to hold on to that and that's a key point."
Rodrigues gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 16:08 of the first period when he scored on a pass from Rasmus Dahlin.
"Dahls made a great play beating his forward coming out. He's so good at that," Rodrigues said. "And once he did that and drew their other [defenseman] to him, I just kind of found the open area in the middle of the ice and tried to shoot it as quick as possible."

Alex Wennberg appeared to tie the game for the Blue Jackets at 17:00 of the second period but video review determined that he kicked the puck into the net and the call on the ice was overturned.
"The first period was probably our best forechecking period but you're not getting me into a negative thought about this game," Tortorella said. "That's a huge point for us to start it off the break."

They said it

"Every point is important. Right now, we're down one goal and we're fighting to get that first goal and today it gets us a point. We just keep working hard, repeat, keep fighting and I feel like we'll be rewarded eventually. Obviously one point is good but we want to the two." -- Blue Jackets forward Alexander Wennberg
"There's a lot of things that go into this. For me, just sticking with it and being a good teammate. At times it didn't have to do with me it had to do with Linus (Ullmark) playing so well." -- Sabres goalie Carter Hutton on his first win since Oct. 22

Need to know

Eichel scored his eighth career NHL overtime goal, the most in Sabres history. … The Blue Jackets have allowed eight goals in their past seven games. … Reinhart, who had an assist on Eichel's goal, has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past 13 games. ... Sabres defenseman Brandon Montour was a late scratch with a lower-body injury and is day to day, coach Ralph Krueger said.

What's next

Blue Jackets:At the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, TVAS, SN1, SNE, SNO, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Sabres:Host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, ALT, NHL.TV)