It’s Thanksgiving and big utensils will be used across the landscape this week. Big forks will be used to spear turkey and pass it around the table.
Perhaps one of those big forks can be stuck in the Buffalo Sabres because they certainly seem done.
On Monday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets built a 3-0 lead and the held on, sort of, for a 3-2 win over the Sabres in Buffalo
Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for the win.
Pierre-Luc Dubois gave the Jackets a 1-0 lead in the middle frame and Artemi Panarin and Boone Jenner scored in the third for the big lead.
“We found a way,” Jackets head coach John Tortorella said. “I am not going to pick apart the team; it’s just a natural thing that happens when you get up three goals. You just give a little bit.”
The Sabres rallied on goals from Sam Reinhart and Evander Kane but once again there was little heart in the effort.
“We’re waiting too much for one break in a game,” Reinhart said. “Unfortunately, as of late there hasn’t been many goals for us early in games that have led to us playing the way we’re capable of.”
The Sabres are -4-2 in their last six games at a time when they need points to show some life.
“We have nothing to lose,” Kane said. “I don’t understand the starts. We score two goals tonight, but we didn’t get our first goal until the 10-minute mark of the third period so we’re not creating enough offensively.”
Columbus moved to 13-7-1 with the victory.
“It’s a long season, and maybe there’s going to be more games like that. I think maybe at the end they got the momentum back, but we got the two points and that’s what counts and we’re going to keep learning like that,” Dubois said after the win.
[WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Sabres highlights]
Robin Lehner made 26 saves in the loss.
“We didn’t envision this, being where we are right now, and that’s the tough battle. You hope that some of the hockey gods would give us a bounce here or there. But again, you create your own bounces. This is testing us mentally for sure, but we’ve got to push forward,” Sabres head coach Phil Housley said after yet another loss.
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