The Buffalo Sabres have teased their fans and pundits most of the season. They sit two points back of a wild card spot and needed everything they could muster Tuesday night to defeat the Blue Jackets in Columbus, 5-4.
Conor Sheary picked up the game-winner in the third period for Buffalo.
“We’re trying to move into that wild card spot then eventually the top of [the Atlantic] division,” Sheary said. “Obviously a big two points for us tonight.”
Carter Hutton made 33 saves to get the win as the Sabres improved to 25-18-6.
“I thought our first five minutes were really good, then they kind of pushed and we didn’t have that competitive edge that we need to have,” Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno said.
The Jackets have lost three straight and dropped to 28-18-3.
“We had a great third period,” Hutton said. “They had a few chances early but we did a great job locking it down.”
Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Atkinson, Foligno, and Brandon Dubinsky scored for the Jackets as they posted three in the middle frame to erase much of the good feeling the Sabres had generated in the opening period.
“We fell asleep for five minutes and let them crawl back into the game,” Sheary said. “If you said we’re going to be tied going into the third in an away building, we knew we were in a good position.”
Evan Rodrigues, Casey Mittelstadt, Sam Reinhart, Tage Thompson, and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Sabres.
“We’re a really good team when we play well without the puck. You can see that. Sometimes when we get the lead we get a little loose,” Sabres head coach Phil Housley said after the win.
[WATCH: All Sabres vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves in the loss.
“We could have been down 5-1 at a point in time with the saves he made with the breakdowns we had,” Columbus head coach John Tortorella said, defending Bobrovsky’s efforts in the first period.
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