Conor Sheary breaks tie in third period for Buffalo, which had lost four of five
By Craig Merz / NHL.com Correspondent
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Conor Sheary broke a tie in the third period, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.
Sheary scored at 2:12 to give the Sabres a 5-4 lead.
Sheary and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist, and Carter Hutton made 33 saves for the Sabres (25-18-6), who had lost four of five.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson each had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (28-18-3), who have lost three in a row for the first time this season.
Rodrigues extended his NHL career-best goal streak to four games with his sixth goal at 2:14 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Dubois tied it 1-1 63 seconds later with a tip of a Ryan Murray shot for his 18th goal.
Sam Reinhart scored in his second straight game at 7:59 for a 2-1 Sabres lead, and Tage Thompson made it 3-1 at 9:39 on Buffalo’s sixth shot.
Nick Foligno scored on his own rebound for a power-play goal 21 seconds into the second period to cut it 3-2 with his 13th goal, but Jeff Skinner made it 4-2 21 seconds later. Skinner’s 31 goals are second in the NHL to Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals (37).
Brandon Dubinsky brought Columbus within 4-3 at 16:52, and Atkinson tied it at 4-4 at 19:27 with his 28th goal.
Up next
The Sabres travel to Dallas for a game against the Stars Wednesday at 8:30 pm ET.