Sabres at Blue Jackets
The Buffalo Sabres are off to their best start since 2011-12 as they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday looking for a fourth straight victory. Buffalo polished off a 3-2-0 western trip by outscoring Los Angeles and Anaheim by a combined 9-3 before defeating Montreal 4-3 on Thursday behind Kyle Okposo's power-play goal with 1 minute, 1 second remaining in the third period.
"Last year, we probably would've got in our shell and wouldn't have had a pushback ... But now it's a different team,'' Buffalo forward Jason Pominville told reporters after scoring twice Thursday, when the Sabres erased three one-goal deficits. "The vibe in the room has been great since, I mean, even before training camp started. ... It's nice to have a good start. We've got to make sure we keep the pedal down and keep it going." Columbus snapped a two-game slide with a 7-4 victory at St. Louis on Thursday as Boone Jenner and Anthony Duclair scored two goals apiece. "I thought we played harder," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told reporters. "I thought we were hard around the pucks. It was much more consistent of that style of game." Columbus won two of the three meetings last season with Sergei Bobrovsky going 2-1-0 with a 1.68 goals-against average and .947 save percentage, improving to 10-4-1 2.50, .941 in 15 games against the Sabres.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Buffalo, FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE SABRES (6-4-0): Jeff Skinner, who signed a six-year, $34.350 million contract during the offseason, has club highs of five goals and 10 points while boasting a four-game point streak (four goals, four assists). Pominville has three of his four goals and all three assists in the last three contests. Carter Hutton (4-4-0, 3.07, .905) has won two straight games as he adjusts to life as a No. 1 goaltender for the first time.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (5-4-0): Artemi Panarin recorded three assists versus St. Louis, giving him team highs of 12 points - amassed in five of the nine games he's played. Defenseman Seth Jones scored Thursday in his second game since recovering from a sprained knee, averaging 25:01 of ice time in the two contests. Bobrovsky (2-4-0, 3.87, .872) is expected to start after Joonas Korpisalo (3-0-0, 3.29, 898) stopped 33-of-37 shots Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. Buffalo has gone 2-for-4 on the power play in each of the last two games after going 1-for-22 over the previous five contests.
2. Columbus LW Markus Hannikainen (four goals in 48 career games) made his season debut Thursday, registering one shot and a hit in 11:32 of ice time.
3. Sabres D Nathan Beaulieu (plus-2 rating, 14:16 average ice time) has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury.