Miles Wood sent the game into overtime with a tip-in before tapping the puck over goalie Alex Lyon en route to a Columbus Blue Jackets overtime victory against the Buffalo Sabres.
Related: Projected Lineups for Blue Jackets vs Sabres – 10/28/25
The Blue Jackets earned their fourth straight win in hostile territory, while the Sabres dropped their second overtime loss in two consecutive games, snapping their four-game winning streak at home.
Game Recap
The Blue Jackets set the tone of the game, applying constant pressure on the Sabres’ blue line and maintaining stable puck possession. The first shot on goal came from Kirill Marchenko’s backhand, which almost went in had Lyon not made an impeccable save. Connor Timmins’ body was turned when Marchenko, hence, was a non-factor in that play.
Boone Jenner then jumped on a 4-on-2 opportunity and fired a shot off the middle of the slot, which Lyon denied. Columbus launched another one from a faceoff, but was caught by Lyon. As they say, persistence pays off. Yegor Chinakhov overcame a 3-on-1 possession battle on the wall to win the puck and patiently tucked it to dump into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Timmins made an almost costly mistake again after slipping on the rush, yet Buffalo managed to thwart a two-on-two chance. The Sabres tried to respond, with captain Rasmus Dahlin slapping a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle, which the goalie caught. Alternate captain Tage Thompson, on the other hand, willed the puck to the front of the net to flick a backhander, but Jet Greaves stopped the shot.
Buffalo earned their first power-play opportunity after crashing into the net, trying to tap the puck past the goal line. The Sabres were sloppy, however, on the man advantage, as the Blue Jackets cleared three possessions. Columbus was also active in stifling Buffalo’s shot attempts, which led to a turnover from the power play. The Sabres’ only shot on the power play came from a last-ditch shot from up high.
The Sabres made up for their first-period woes, peppering shots from all cylinders. Thompson let one go from a breakaway opportunity while Noah Ostlund discharged a shot. Dahlin also sent one to the goal, but Buffalo didn’t have bodies in front of the net to make a play with the puck. Bowen Byram hustled on defense to deliver a body check on an odd-man rush, which prevented the goal while wristing a shot from the middle of the left faceoff circle from Peyton Krebs’ feed.
Timmins redeemed himself after a couple of first-period errors, winning the puck in a battle at the boards, sending it to Josh Doan, who grabbed a rebound from his own shot, and burying it the second time around to tie the game at 1-1. Ryan McLeod followed with the second goal after playing a give-and-go with Byram, who sniped a shot that hit Damon Severson on the leg to get past the goal line.
The referees received backlash from the home crowd after calling a power play on an Alex Tuch penalty for going after the puck while Timmins was harassed on the defensive end. The Blue Jackets found their equalizer as Zach Werenski slung a goal from the top of the slot. A scrum at the end of the period awarded Buffalo with a power play to start the third period.
Beck Malenstyn gained possession from a forecheck and pushed the puck to Josh Dunne, nabbing his first goal of the season and putting the Sabres ahead again, 3-2. Lyon stonewalled three consecutive shots from Columbus and saved a shot from Jenner from the middle of the slot. Buffalo retaliated as Thompson blasted a shot from the middle of the slot, but Greaves balked at his attempt. Wood scored the game-tying goal from Chinakhov’s saucer pass to extend the game into overtime.
In overtime, Jiri Kulich rushed on a breakaway after Tuch flipped the puck into open ice, but Greaves successfully seized the shot. On their odd-man rush, Wood saw an opening on Lyon’s guard and put the puck into the top right corner of the goal to allow Columbus to escape with a 4-3 win.
What’s Next?
The Sabres look to bounce back after a narrow overtime loss against the Boston Bruins on the road and a return home to take on the Washington Capitals. On the other hand, the Blue Jackets will travel back to Columbus to host the Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues before heading to New York for a divisional showdown against the Islanders.
