Blue Jackets snap Sabres' 10-game win streak in 5-1 rout
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) saves the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. Credit: AP/Joe Maiorana
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets scored three times in the first period, including once short-handed, and beat Buffalo 5-1 on Saturday, snapping the Sabres’ league-leading 10-game win streak.
Denton Mateychuk, Brendan Gaunce and Dmitri Voronkov scored in the first, while Mathieu Olivier added a second-period goal, and Cole Sillinger contributed a third-period empty-netter. Damon Severson and Zach Werenski each had two assists, Mateychuk also added a helper, and Jet Greaves stopped 32 shots.
The Blue Jackets have won four of the last five games in the series.
Josh Doan scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 shots for Buffalo, which lost for the first time since Dec. 8. It was the third time in the team’s 56-year history that it had a win streak snapped at 10 games.
Mateychuk extended his point streak to six games and put Columbus ahead at 3 minutes, burying the second Blue Jackets shot of the game from outside the right circle. Werenski returned after missing four games with a lower-body injury and provided the secondary assist, giving him a point in his last 13 home games.
Blue Jackets defensemen have scored an NHL-leading 32 goals this season.
Doan tied the score on a tap-in from the far post at 11:26 for his second goal in as many games before Gaunce’s short-handed goal with 5:56 left in the period — the second of his career and the season — put Columbus back in front.
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger warms up before an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. Credit: AP/Paul Vernon
Voronkov made it 3-1 three minutes later, dribbling the puck past Luukkonen. Olivier used a backhander to give Columbus its three-goal lead at 8:04 of the second period.
The Sabres pulled Luukkonen with 9:08 remaining, and Sillinger made them pay with an empty-netter less than a minute later.
Up next
Sabres: Host Vancouver on Tuesday.
Blue Jackets: Host Pittsburgh on Sunday.
