COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Matthew Knies had two goals and an assist in his Columbus debut and the Blue Jackets beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 on Thursday night for their first season-opening victory in five years.
Cole Sillinger, Adam Fantilli, Sean Monahan and Mathieu Olivier also scored, and Charlie Coyle added three assists. Reigning Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski had two assists, and Jet Greaves stopped 23 shots.
Knies, acquired from Toronto on Monday, became the first Columbus player to score twice in his Blue Jackets debut. The three points tied the franchise record for a debut set by Artemi Panarin, who had three assists in 2017.
Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Konsta Helenius scored for Buffalo, and Noah Ostlund and Owen Power each had two assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 16 shots.
Samuelsson, back after suffering a lower-body injury in the preseason, gave the Sabres the lead at 7:21 of the first period while the teams were skating 4 on 4. Sillinger tied it with 7:09 to go in the period, burying Coyle’s drop pass in front of the net.
Knies scored his first Blue Jackets goal on the power play with 2:02 left, then assisted on Fantilli’s goal with 1:16 to go to give Columbus a 3-1 lead.
Quinn pulled Buffalo within a goal 1:25 into the second period before Knies restored the two-goal lead. Helenius made it 4-3, and Monahan added a power-play goal with 5:39 to go in the third. Olivier made it 6-3 with an empty-net goal with 2:07 remaining.
Columbus has won four straight home games against Buffalo. The Sabres' next game is Saturday night, their home opener, against the Chicago Blackhawks.