Kirill Marchenko scored a natural hat trick between the 1st and 2nd periods as the Columbus Blue Jackets smacked the Buffalo Sabres 9-4 Tuesday night at the KeyBank Center.
Despite Buffalo opening the scoring just 30 seconds into the game courtesy of Rasmus Dahlin (8), Columbus later tied things up at 10:55 from Johnny Gaudreau (6), kicking off 3 unanswered goals by the Jackets, later adding tallies from Adam Fantilli (9) at 14:40 and Marchenko's first of the night (11) at 19:48 on a Columbus power play. He'd kick off the 2nd period with two straight goals not too far apart from another, first at 7:37 and then 7:55 for his 12th and 13th goals of the season. Erik Gudbranson (3) about a minute later at 8:52 and Sean Kuraly (6) at 12:27 capped a 4-goal assault for Columbus to give them a 6-1 lead. Buffalo did add one back before the end of the period, from Kyle Okposo (6) at 18:54.
Buffalo would also add another pair to start the 3rd period, first from Tage Thompson (8) at 2:27 on a Sabres power play and then Dylan Cozens (6) at 7:51, but it'd be the final goals of the night for Buffalo. Cole Sillinger had the 8th Columbus goal at 8:30 and finally, Kent Johnson (4) put the final red light on.
With the statement win, the Blue Jackets improve to 11-17-5, yet still remain last in the Metro Division with a 4-5-1 last 10 record. Their next game is a home clash with Washington on December 21 at 7 pm. Buffalo drops to 13-17-3, 7th in the Atlantic Division, with a 3-6-1 last 10 record. They play next against Toronto, same date and time.
Team Stats:
Shots: CBJ 34, BUF 29
Hits: CBJ 12, BUF 20
Faceoff Wins: CBJ 29, BUF 35
PIM: CBJ 6, BUF 4
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