Knies has two goals, assist in debut, Blue Jackets top Sabres in opener

COLUMBUS -- Matthew Knies scored twice and had an assist in his Columbus Blue Jackets debut, a 6-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

It was the season opener for each team.

Knies, a forward, was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday as part of a six-player trade that sent forward Kirill Marchenko to Toronto.

“That's a lot of luck,” Knies said. “Credit to these boys ’cause they made me feel comfortable to do everything out there and it's a good group in here and easy to play for.

“We’ve just got to keep taking steps forward. There's a lot of potential in this room, a lot of skill, a lot of guys that work their tails off.”

Charlie Coyle had three assists, Zach Werenski had two assists, and Jet Greaves made 23 saves for the Blue Jackets.

Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Konsta Helenius scored, and Owen Power and Noah Ostlund each had two assists for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 17 saves.

“Just a couple of breakdowns,” Buffalo forward Zach Benson said. “Obviously we want a couple of those back, but no big thing. We have 83 games left and we're fired up to get home here in front of the Buffalo fans (against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday).”

Knies gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead at 17:58 of the first period with a power-play goal, one-timing a shot in the slot from Coyle’s pass. 

“It's a first game. It's usually pretty hectic, at least with the start,” Coyle said. “The puck was bouncing a lot, so just trying to stay on the right side and doing it the right way. But when you get rewarded you play with a little more confidence, so that was the key.” 

Adam Fantilli made it 3-1 at 18:44 by tipping a shot by Werenski. The forward was a holdout in training camp until signing a six-year, $82.5 million contract ($13.75 million average annual value) on Sept. 24 and did not play any preseason games.

Quinn pulled the Sabres to within 3-2 at 1:25 of the second period with a shot from the left face-off circle to the glove side.

Knies then extended the lead to 4-2 with a redirection at 7:45, the goal coming 1:47 after Columbus killed a penalty that saw Buffalo on the two-man advantage for two minutes. He is the first player to score multiple goals in his Blue Jackets debut and tied Artemi Panarin (three assists, Oct. 6, 2017) for the most points in a debut for Columbus.

Helenius cut it to 4-3 at 13:14 on a one-timer from low in the left circle.

Knies was denied his third NHL hat trick when Luukkonen stopped him on a breakaway at 11:25 of the third period.

“Probably not the right play,” Knies said. “I feel like he had me the whole time.”

Sean Monahan’s power-play goal at 14:21 made it 5-3, and Mathieu Olivier scored into an empty net 17:53 for the 6-3 final.

Samuelsson gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 7:21 of the first period with a snap shot from the high slot that deflected off the stick of Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk during 4-on-4 play.

Cole Sillinger tied it 1-1 at 12:51, scoring from the left hash marks after taking a Coyle drop pass.

“There was high energy, both sides a little bit of jitters,” Sillinger said, “so we just wanted to keep it simple early and I thought we did good job at that.” 

The Blue Jackets were 2-for-3 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

“A game like that with five power plays, we're going to need to find a way to get one,” Quinn said.

Benson said the power-play problems are fixable. 

“I thought we had looks, hit a couple posts,” he said. “So yeah, just didn't score.”

NOTES: Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov (lower body) had his regular-season games-played streak end at 375. He is week to week. Now in his 11th NHL season, he had never missed a game due to injury, playing 778 games. He’d only missed three games due to COVID-19 protocol in 2022. … Columbus also was without defensemen Damon Severson (shoulder) and Dante Fabbro (broken hand). … Werenski played a game-high 28:46, and defense partner Mateychuk was on the ice for 27:28. … Forward Valeri Nichushkin and defenseman Emil Andrae each had an assist in his Columbus debut. Nichushkin was traded from the Colorado Avalanche on June 26, and Andrae was acquired in the Knies deal. … Power became the third Sabres defenseman since 1990-91 to have multiple assists in the team’s season opener, tying Colin Miller and Jacob Bryson, who each had two assists on Oct. 14, 2021.