Colten Ellis recorded the first shutout of his NHL career and Josh Doan scored twice as the Buffalo Sabres beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0 at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Ellis made his first start since Feb. 3 with Alex Lyon sidelined after suffering a lower-body injury during morning skate on Wednesday. Ellis made a career-high 37 saves and the Sabres secured their fifth shutout of the season.
Peyton Krebs’ first-period tally was the lone goal for two periods until the Sabres scored four times in the third. Doan and Jack Quinn ignited the run with goals scored 25 seconds apart, followed by Doan’s second and an empty-net goal from Rasmus Dahlin.
Josh Norris had two assists and now has seven points in his last six games. Logan Stanley returned to the lineup after being scratched Wednesday against the Rangers and tallied a pair of assists.
The Sabres maintained their lead in the Atlantic Division as they moved to 49-23-8 with 106 points. They’ve garnered at least one point in 26 of their last 32 games with a 23-6-3 record in that span.
Buffalo is now 36-6-2 when scoring first, 34-2-0 when leading after two periods and 9-1-3 in the second game of their back-to-back contests this year.
