These are better days in Buffalo, NY.
The Buffalo Sabres kicked the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 Tuesday night. The Sabres last played on January 18 when they lost to the Vancouver Canucks. The ten-day hiatus helped the Sabres to rest, recover and create much needed secondary and tertiary scoring.
Even strength goals by Evan Rodrigues, Samson Reinhart, Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner, and Connor Sheary powered the Sabres past the Blue Jackets, who currently sit third in the Metropolitan division.
Carter Hutton made 33 saves for the win.
Skinner's goal was his 31st snipe of the season. Only Alex Ovechkin has scored more goals (37) than Skinner (31).
Samson Reinhart has already set career-high totals in assists (33) and multi-point games (13) this season. His 45 points leave him just five shy of his career high 50 from the 2017-18 season.
The Sabres are 19-8-4 this season when Reinhart records at least one point and 28-4-6 (.816) in his career when he records at least two.
With the win, the well-rested Sabres move within striking distance of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second and wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
With the win over the Blue Jackets, the Sabres grabbed a point from the Bruins, who lost in the shootout to the Jets. Buffalo picked up two points on Columbus and every other playoff contender in the Eastern Conference that were idle (Leafs, Bruins, Islanders, Capitals, Penguins, Hurricanes). A win at Dallas would give the Sabres another two points on the Leafs, Bruins, Islanders, Capitals, and Hurricanes. The Penguins play the Lightning on Wednesday night. Talk about huge opportunities to climb the standings!
The Sabres play the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.
Rasmus Dahlin chipped in two assists in Buffalo's win at Columbus. The Super Swede rookie now has 5 goals and 23 assists, the sixth-most points in NHL history by an 18-year-old defenceman.
Dahlin leads rookie defensemen and ranks second among all NHL rookies with 28 points this season. His 23 assists lead all NHL rookies in 2018-19.
Dahlin is now on pace to move past Bobby Orr’s 38 points for second all-time on that list before he turns 19 on April 13. Dahlin's head coach Phil Houlsey holds the record of 57 points scored before age 19.
Dahlin also recorded his sixth multi-point game tonight, joining Orr (8) and Housley (13) as the only defencemen in NHL history to have at least six before their 19th birthday.
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