Robinson gets 1st hat trick, Blue Jackets hold off Sabres

BUFFALO -- Eric Robinson scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Columbus Blue Jackets held on for a 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

"It's really nice," Robinson said. "Any time you get one goal in the NHL it's pretty special, so cool night for me, for sure."
Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Nick Blankenburg had two assists for the Blue Jackets (20-35-6), who are 4-1-2 in their past seven games. Elvis Merzlikins made 38 saves.
"I think, for our process, these are important games for us," Jenner said. "To find that way that we want to play and how we're going to play and how we're going to win games in this league, and realize how hard it is and what's our recipe to make that happen. We've been, as of late, playing some good hockey. It's something to build off for us. Obviously, not the spot we want to be in, but we've got to work on our game here."

Jack Quinn had a goal and an assist, and Craig Anderson made 31 saves for the Sabres (31-24-4), who had won three in a row.
"I think they forechecked hard, give them credit," Anderson said. "They forced us to make mistakes. We were just not as sharp as we probably would've liked and our support around the puck was just a hair too late."
Buffalo is 12-16-2 at home this season. It is 19-8-2 on the road.
"There were some shots we passed up," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "There was an opportunity in the second period we're staring right at the goalie, (but) we passed and hit a stick. And it just points to, we want to make it perfect. We get on the road, you're not worried about making it perfect. It's a more direct mentality. You can add up the numbers, obviously, home and road at this point of the year. I think just moving forward we just have to compete better, compete every night the same way whether it's home or road. I think that was the challenge for us tonight."

Kent Johnson gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 2:53 of the first period, using Ilya Lyubushkin as a screen and scoring over Anderson's left shoulder from the left circle on a power play.
Tage Thompson scored 18 seconds later to tie it 1-1. Following a giveaway by Robinson in the neutral zone, Thompson received a backhand pass from Jeff Skinner, skated into the right circle and scored high blocker side.
Robinson put Columbus back in front 2-1 at 13:41 from the edge of the right circle after Sean Kuraly sent the puck out front from his knees behind the net.
Robinson then made it 3-1 at 11:53 of the second, scoring on a one-timer off another pass from Kuraly after he was left alone in front.
"It's kind of natural to think [about a hat trick after scoring two goals], but it's been at least 12 or 15 years since I've had one," Robinson said. "Doesn't come naturally, that's for sure."

Jenner pushed it to 4-1 at 19:42, making a move around Owen Power in the left circle before lifting a backhand over Anderson short side.
Quinn brought the Sabres to within 4-2 at 5:02 of the third period, and JJ Peterka cut it to 4-3 at 9:46 when he scored with a one-timer from the right circle on a power play.
It was Peterka's first goal since Dec. 13 (27 games).
"Obviously, we know the magnitude of this game and the magnitude of the moment," Buffalo captain Kyle Okposo said. "I just thought we were playing pond hockey in the first period, and it's not a good recipe for success this time of the year. Third period we came out and we pushed, 'Quinny' scores a big goal, get a big a big one on the PP there, and we've got 10 minutes to tie it up and we weren't able to find the last one."
Robinson completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal and 19:25 for the 5-3 final.
NOTES:Prior to the game, Columbus traded injured forward Gustav Nyquist to the Minnesota Wild for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. … Goalie Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov were scratched for "trade-related reasons." … Thompson has 80 points (41 goals, 39 assists) in 59 games, the fewest needed by a Sabres player to reach the mark since 1992-93 (Pat LaFontaine, 42 games; Alexander Mogilny, 47 games) . … Thompson (six goals, five assists) and Skinner (five goals, five assists) each extended his point streak to seven games.