The Columbus Blue Jackets look to build off a successful road trip when they return home to face the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
The Blue Jackets went 4-1 on their road swing, bouncing back from their lone loss with a 7-4 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday to close out the trip. The club is 6-2 in its past eight games.
“Gotta have a short memory,” forward Max Domi said “That’s what good teams do, they learn from their mistakes. We knew we didn’t have our best in Calgary against a heck of a hockey club. We didn’t have the game that we needed to stay in that and win it, obviously, and I think we learned from that. We said, ‘Hey, listen, that’s a tough one but it’s about bouncing back and making sure we get this one tonight,’ and we did.”
Patrik Laine has been pacing the Blue Jackets offensively of late, producing 16 points (10 goals, six assists) in an eight-game point streak, the second-longest point streak of his career. He’s had four multi-goal games during that stretch, including a hat trick against Chicago.
“It’s been a good streak so far, and obviously it’s great we are able to win games as a team,” Laine said. “Even though if I didn’t have this streak going and I would be struggling and the team is winning, that’s all that really matters. But at the same time, it’s always nice to be able to help out the guys and get some big points.”
One of the Blue Jackets’ wins during their current stretch came on Feb. 10 against the Sabres in Buffalo, rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win in overtime.
The Sabres are 2-2-0 since that meeting, dropping each of their past two games. After a disappointing effort on Thursday in a loss to the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo bounced back with a stronger showing on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche but ultimately fell short.
“I think we have a group of talented young athletes that are take-charge, that are competitive guys,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “They have a very high standard and as they learn and they watch and they go through what they experienced (Saturday), their standards go higher.”
Tage Thompson scored his first NHL hat trick in the loss to Colorado, bringing his season point total to 37 (19 goals, 18 assists), two more than his first four NHL seasons combined. The center has seven goals and 10 assists in his past 16 games; he’s been held off the scoresheet only four times during that stretch and never more than one game.
“You show up to the rink, try to get better every day and focus on each day, not taking it for granted and coming to work — and I think the results will follow,” he said. “That’s just something that’s been a product of work and my teammates, obviously, are a big part of that, too. Playing with guys who are really good, really skilled players, you get looks like that and they start to go for you.”
The top line of Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch has delivered for the Sabres. Tuch has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in the past 13 games while Skinner has 15 (seven goals, eight assists) during that same stretch.
–Field Level Media