In a disappointing upset, the Columbus Blue Jackets lost 2-4 against the Buffalo Sabres in their game last Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
This game marks the third loss in a row for Columbus, who played without their usually goalie Sergei Bobrovsky; Anton Forsberg called up from their AHL affiliate “the Springfield Falcons,” was in the net instead, but was not able to fend off the Sabres’ offense.
In the first period, Sabres forward Cody Hodgson scored a backhand goal after Forsberg initially stopped the puck, but didn’t see it slide past him as he tried to get up. Andrej Meszaros and Zach Bogosian were credited with the assists.
Before the end of the first period, Buffalo scored again; this time it was Zemgus Girgensons with a beautiful short-handed goal after he sped past the Columbus defense then drew Forsberg out of the net with a deke to his left, before sending the puck home to an open net.
Columbus got their first goal at the start of the second from a quick set of passes from Jack Johnson and Brandon Dubinsky that set up Matt Calvert for his goal.
Less than a minute later, however, Buffalo regained their two-goal lead with a wrist shot from Mark Pysyk with assists from Brian Flynn and Marcus Foligno.
Buffalo came back to score again minutes later with 36 seconds left on their power play; Christ Stewart scored with an assist from Girgensons.
Kevin Connauton, who was picked up off waivers from the Dallas Stars last fall, was able to score again for the Blue Jackets, but the goal, assisted by James Wisniewski and Ryan Johansen, was not enough to win the game.
With neither team scoring in the third period, the Sabres got the win and two points for their league and division standings; even with the points, however, Buffalo is still ranked last in the league with 43 points. For perspective, the Nashville Predators currently lead the league with 89 points.
The game is still big news for the Sabres, however, who have won four out of the 23 games they’ve played in the 2015 year. Looking forward to their upcoming games against Vancouver and Florida, they will be down two players; after facing the Blue Jackets, both Girgensons and Tyler Ennis are on injured reserve. Columbus player Connauton is also on IR after taking a puck to the foot.
Although Blue Jackets fans did not get a home win, Wittenberg seniors and alumni still came out to support the team and network before. Hosted by the Columbus alumni chapter and the senior class officers, about 60 Witt alums and 20 current seniors met up for some drinks and conversation before the game.
