Buffalo Sabres - Columbus Blue Jackets Game Preview
4/9/26 - 7:00pm at KeyBank Center, In Buffalo, NY
Buffalo – 48-23-8 | - 104 points – 1st place in the Atlantic Division
Columbus – 39-27-12 | - 90 points – 4th place in the Metropolitan Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 20.1% (18th)
Penalty Kill – 81.4% (9th)
Columbus
Power Play – 19.6% (21st)
Penalty Kill - 75.9% (28th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 79 GP, 38 G, 41 A, 79 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 75 GP, 18 G, 53 A, 71 PTS
Alex Tuch: 76 GP, 31 G, 32 A, 63 PTS
Columbus
Zach Werenski: 71 GP, 22 G, 58 A, 80 PTS
Kirill Marchenko: 72 GP, 26 G, 39 A, 65 PTS
Adam Fantilli: 78 GP, 23 G, 33 A, 56 PTS
Starting Goalies(projected)
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (20-10-4, 2.74 GAA, .907 Sv %)
Columbus – Jet Greaves (25-16-9, 2.58 GAA, .910 Sv %)
Other Sabres Stories
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings (projected)
Forwards
Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Josh Norris - Josh Doan
Jason Zucker - Ryan McLeod - Jack Quinn
Tanner Pearson - Tyson Kozak - Beck Malenstyn
Ex., Josh Dunne, Jordan Greenway
Defense
Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Bowen Byram
Conor Timmins - Michael Kesselring
Ex. Luke Schenn, Logan Stanley, Zach Metsa
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
Colten Ellis
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injuries
Justin Danforth (lower body, Oct. 18; injured reserve)
Jiri Kulich (blood clot, Nov. 4; injured reserve - out for the season)
Sam Carrick (upper body, Mar. 31; injured reserve)
Noah Ostlund (upper body, Mar.25; day-to-day)
Notes
On April 4, Buffalo clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2010-11. The Sabres have earned at least one point in 25 of their last 31 contests (22-6-3), including a league-best 16 wins and 34 points since the Olympic break.
Tage Thompson has tallied 56 points (25+31) in 49 games since Dec. 9 and his 22 even-strength goals in that span rank tied for fifth among all NHL skaters.
Rasmus Dahlin ranks first among all Sabres skaters in assists (35) and second in points (51) since Dec. 9. His 11 even-strength goals in that span rank tied for first among all NHL defensemen.
Josh Norris has registered five points (1+4) in his last five games, including a point in three straight contests (1+2).
In his last five games, Bowen Byram has tallied five points (1+4), including at least one assist in back-to-back contests.
Jason Zucker has posted one goal and one assist in back-to-back games, including the game-winning goal in both games. Zucker would become the first skater in franchise history to record the gamewinning goal in three straight games if he does so tonight. Zucker would join Dahlin (three games; Dec. 8 to 11; 2+5) as the only Sabres skaters
to record a multi-point streak of three or more games in 2025-26 with two or more points in tonight’s game.
Ryan McLeod has registered three points (1+2) and a plus-4 rating in his last two games.
Zach Benson registered his first multi-goal performance of the season in last night’s win over the Rangers (2+0), his first since March 14, 2024 vs. NY Islanders.
Alex Tuch has recorded a point in three consecutive games (2+1).
Josh Doan has collected an assist in two straight games
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