Sabres open homestand with loss to Blue Jackets

Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring for the Buffalo Sabres just 30 seconds into the game, but the Columbus Blue Jackets answered with seven consecutive goals on their way to a 9-4 victory inside KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Kyle Okposo, Tage Thompson, and Dylan Cozens also scored for the Sabres. Devon Levi stopped 14 of 18 shots in 27:37 before giving way to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made 11 saves on 16 shots.

“It wasn’t good enough,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “We know that, and we’ll go right to work tomorrow, as we’ll go right to work right now on that. I’ve stood here before in situations like this and told you I have conviction and confidence that we’ll resolve it. And we will.”

The Blue Jackets scored three goals in the back half of the first period to carry a 3-1 lead into the intermission. Johnny Gaudreau ignited the run when he intercepted a pass low in the Buffalo zone, found Adam Fantilli in front, and buried the loose puck after Fantilli’s shot missed wide.

Gaudreau assisted on the next two goals, a carom off the end boards that was buried by Fantilli and a between-the-legs shot from Kirill Marchenko on a power play with 11.8 seconds left in the period.

“It just seemed like every mistake was costing us,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. “It seemed like the more you tried to dig, the deeper you went. It’s not a fun night, especially when it happens at home. We’ve been on the road a little bit and we haven’t been playing well at home. We were trying to establish a game at home and that’s a tough one.”

Columbus added four goals within a span of 4:50 during the second period to pull away. Marchenko scored the first two goals 18 seconds apart to complete a hat trick. Erik Gudbranson scored the third goal on a shot through traffic and Sean Kuraly added the fourth on an odd-man rush.

The Sabres fought to come back beginning with Okposo’s goal, scored with 1:06 left in the second period. Cozens and Thompson added goals to cut the deficit to 7-3 with 12:09 remaining in the third, but it was the closest they would come. Cole Sillinger planted his stick at the backdoor to bury a Zach Werenski feed 39 seconds later, then Kent Johnson added the final goal for Columbus on a one-timer from the slot.

“We wanted to come out and push," Okposo said. "In the third, you get two goals and you start to believe you have some momentum, and then they score that next one that kind of broke our backs. We’ve got to find it. It’s not an easy road that we’ve made for ourselves and it just seems like, collectively, we’re in a bit of a sophomore slump.”

The loss was the Sabres’ second in a row after defeating the NHL-leading Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Friday. They outshot the Arizona Coyotes in a 2-0 loss on the road on Saturday.

“My concern is on making this group better tomorrow," Granato said. "It was my concern from day one and it’ll stay my concern. We are going to make this team better. And I [say that] with absolute respect to our fan base and (when) we go to work and I don’t sleep, this is because of that. We care about that and we want to do good on that. And I still can stand here with confidence that we will.”

Up next

The Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.