Sabres’ Tage Thompson scores five goals in win over Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tage Thompson matched an NHL file by scoring 4 occasions within the first interval and completed with 5 objectives and an help because the Buffalo Sabres received their third straight street recreation, 9-4 over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday evening.

Thompson is the second U.S.-born participant to attain 5 objectives in a recreation. He's the fourth participant in NHL historical past to file 4 objectives within the first interval of a regular-season recreation, becoming a member of Peter Bondra (1994), Grant Mulvey (1982) and Joe Malone (1921). He's additionally the fourth lively participant to attain 5 objectives in a recreation, becoming a member of Timo Meier (Jan. 17, 2022), Mika Zibanejad (March 5, 2020) and Patrik Laine (Nov. 24, 2018).

“It’s undoubtedly a rewarding feeling,” Thompson stated. “You’ve spent a number of years working to get thus far and to be rewarded for it's a fairly good feeling and it simply leaves you hungrier.”

Tage Thompson scores one among his 5 objectives in the course of the Sabres’ 9-4 win over the Blue Jackets.

AP

Thompson’s outburst helped Buffalo rating six occasions within the first 16:40.

“That was a tremendous efficiency by Tage, and actually, the entire group set the desk,” Sabres coach Don Granato stated. “I assumed the power, the collective effort, the main target to begin was actually good and enabled that to occur.”

Alex Tuch had a objective and three assists, Dylan Cozens added a power-play objective and two assists and Rasmus Dahlin completed with a objective and two assists. Peyton Krebs additionally scored. Jeff Skinner picked up 4 assists and Jacob Bryson had two. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 20 pictures.

Tage Thompson scores one among his 5 objectives in the course of the Sabres’ win.

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Patrik Laine and Gustav Nyquist every scored twice for Columbus.

Joonas Korpisalo stopped two pictures earlier than being pulled within the first in favor of Elvis Merzlikins, who stopped 15 pictures by the second interval. Korpisalo returned within the third and completed with six saves.

Columbus has misplaced six straight house video games and 5 of its final six general.

“We didn’t have a solution for that one line,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen stated. “Tage Thompson simply tore us up tonight.”

Buffalo dominated from the puck drop, scoring 4 objectives on its first six pictures.

Cozens put the Sabres on the board at 3:21 of the primary, 53 seconds right into a Blue Jackets penalty, and Thompson made it 2-0 simply 2:09 later. Dahlin scored Buffalo’s third objective at 7:28 of the primary, driving Korpisalo from the web in favor of Merzlikins, who gave up Buffalo objective No. 4 to Thompson 32 seconds later.

Thompson’s third profession hat trick and second of the season got here on a power-play objective at 12:22 of the primary. He adopted together with his fourth objective, additionally on the facility play, at 16:40.

Columbus scored two objectives in simply over a minute, with Laine at 10:49 and Nyquist at 12:04, earlier than Buffalo reeled off three straight in simply over three minutes to finish the interval, together with Thompson’s fifth, and objectives by Krebs and Tuch.

Laine and Nyquist scored within the third interval for Columbus.