COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dean Kukan had two goals and an assist, Jean-Francois Berube stopped 33 shots in his first NHL start in nearly four years, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Buffalo Sabres 7-3 Sunday night.
Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski, Brendan Gaunce, Gus Nyquist and Justin Danforth also scored for Columbus. Patrik Laine added two assists as the Blue Jackets won for the seventh time in nine games and swept the three-game season series with Buffalo.
Berube last played April 6, 2018, for Chicago in a loss to St. Louis.
Mark Pysyk, Tage Thompson and Kyle Okposo scored for Buffalo. Craig Anderson stopped 32 shots in the Sabres' third straight loss.
Kukan put Columbus ahead 3-2 at 3:28 of the second period with his second of the night, a wrister from the blue line that caught Anderson by surprise to mark his first two-goal game and first three-point game.
Columbus looked to go up 4-2 less than a minute later but Laine’s goal was waived off for offsides. Werenski, however, got that goal back at 8:16 off a perfect feed from Oliver Bjorkstrand that made it 4-2.
Gaunce’s breakaway off a perfect feed from Laine at 17:43 of the second period put Columbus ahead 5-2 but Buffalo pulled within two goals with 32 seconds left in the second after Okposo poked the puck through a scrum in front of the crease.
Nyquist scored an empty-netter with 36 seconds remaining, and Danforth made it 7-3 with 4 seconds left in his first game back since suffering a knee sprain Dec. 30.
Kukan put Columbus on the board at 4:47 of the first, burying the second rebound given up by Anderson after a barrage of Blue Jackets shots for his second goal of the season and first since Jan. 4.
Pysyk pulled Buffalo even with 4:55 left in the first with just the Sabres’ second shot of the game, for his first goal since Dec. 16.
Buffalo went up 2-1 with Thompson’s shot from the left circle with 2:26 remaining in the period, tying him for the team lead with 20 goals.
That lead lasted just 10 seconds as Jenner buried a rebound of Jakub Voracek's shot to pull Columbus even with his team-leading 21st goal of the season.
The Blue Jackets have come from behind in 15 of their 25 wins, including five of their last seven victories.
NEXT UP
Sabres: At Montreal on Wednesday night.
Blue Jackets: Host Toronto on Tuesday night.
