The Buffalo Sabres clawed their way to a point on Monday night, but ended up dropping their first game of the 2019-20 season in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
The Sabres were able to force overtime thanks to a late power play goal from forward Victor Olofsson to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:14 remaining in regulation. However, it was Alexandre Texier who gave the Blue Jackets the win after Sabres captain Jack Eichel turned the puck over behind the Buffalo net to Columbus captain Nick Foligno.
It was not a good start for the Sabres as they played a sloppy first period with a number of turnovers and missed opportunities for the offense to get pucks to the net.
The Blue Jackets got the scoring started late in the period, and managed to get two pucks behind goalie Linus Ullmark before the horn ended the opening frame.
Oliver Bjorkstrand gave Columbus the 1-0 lead at the 18:09 mark as he was able to bounce the puck off Ullmark's right arm and into the net after a shot from defenseman Seth Jones went off the backboards and to the Blue Jackets forward on the other side.
After a Henri Jokiharju tripping penalty with 1:04 remaining in the first period, Cam Atkinson cashed in just eight-seconds to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead. Atkinson was able to get off a quick snapshot from Alexander Wennberg, and the shot from just below the faceoff dot beat Ullmark to the far-side post.
The Sabres never got any substantial pressure on Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo in the first period, and ended up getting out-shot in the period by a 14-6 total.
The second period was the exact opposite of the first as the Sabres got pressure to the Blue Jackets' net immediately and forced a hooking penalty. On the ensuing power play, Marcus Johansson converted off a great feed from Colin Miller in the right faceoff circle to halve the Blue Jackets' lead to 2-1.
The third period brought back the woes from the first period with some sloppy puck work and giveaways leading to some quality chances for Columbus.
After a tough shift being pinned in the defensive end, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin took an interference penalty call that led to Colubus' third power play chance of the night. With less than a minute remaining in the man advantage, a pinballing puck off a Bjorkstrand shot from the point ended up being whacked into the net by Foligno, who scored his first goal of the 2019-20 campaign.
The game ended after Eichel coughed the puck up in the corner to Foligno, who then quickly found a wide open Texier, who fired a wrist shot from just inside the faceoff circle past the blocker of Ullmark to give the Blue Jackets their first win of the 2019-20 campaign.
Despite the loss, Ullmark was fantastic throughout the night with 40 saves on 44 shots faced. Korpisalo did not face much from the Buffalo offense, only needing to make 15 saves on 18 shots faced to earn the win.
1.) Alexandre Texier (CBJ)2.) Oliver Bjorkstrand (CBJ)3.) Nick Foligno (CBJ)
The Sabres return to Buffalo for the start a three-game homestand against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. on WGR with pre-game coverage starting at 6 p.m. with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.