Sabres shut out Blue Jackets
Buffalo put together a shutout of Columbus over the last day or two, handing the Blue Jackets a blanking loss that’s getting talked about among fans and local beat writers. (x.com) For Sabres followers, a clean defensive outing like that can be a real season momentum builder — especially if it’s paired with consistent goaltending in upcoming matchups. (x.com)
Buffalo spent two periods sitting on a 1-0 lead on April 9, then turned it into a 5-0 win with four goals in the third period at KeyBank Center. Rookie goaltender Colten Ellis stopped all 37 Columbus shots for the first shutout of his National Hockey League career. (nhl.com) The first goal came from Peyton Krebs at 13:41 of the opening period after Josh Norris stripped Zach Werenski and fed him off the rush. That 1-0 score held all the way into the third, which is the part Columbus will replay the most. (nhl.com) Then Buffalo scored four times in the final period, with Josh Doan getting two of them and Jack Quinn and Rasmus Dahlin adding one each. A one-goal game turned into a five-goal final in less than 20 minutes, which is how a tight night becomes a rout on the scoreboard. (apnews.com) Ellis was not just filling in for a night. Sabres.com said the 25-year-old had not started a game since February 3, and Buffalo still trusted him in a late-season game with first place in the Atlantic Division on the line. (nhl.com) That trust paid off in the standings. The win pushed Buffalo to 49-23-8 and 106 points, which kept the Sabres in first place in the Atlantic Division on April 10 ahead of Montreal at 104 points and Tampa Bay at 102. (espn.com) For Columbus, the timing was brutal. The Blue Jackets fell to 39-28-12 and 90 points, which left them outside the Eastern Conference wild-card spots and made the playoff math steeper with only a few games left. (espn.com) Local playoff tracking in Columbus moved fast after the loss. The Columbus Dispatch reported on April 10 that betting markets had swung to +400 for the Blue Jackets to make the playoffs and -620 for them to miss, a sharp drop from where they were after beating Detroit on April 7. (usatoday.com) Buffalo’s side of the story looks different because this was not a fluky 2-1 escape. The Sabres outscored the New York Rangers 5-3 on April 8, then shut out Columbus on April 9, giving them three straight wins at the exact point in the calendar when teams either settle down or crack. (espn.com)
