The Columbus Blue Jackets played their second preseason game of 2025-26 on Monday night. Unlike Sunday night, they couldn’t must any offense.
Bowen Byram and Beck Malenstyn scored less than four minutes apart in the second period to help lift the Sabres to a 4-0 shutout of the Blue Jackets.
Ultimately, the story of this game on both sides was the goaltending.
Game Recap
The Blue Jackets did start the game strong. They outshot the Sabres 8-4 and had the better of the chances overall. They were unable to solve Sabres’ goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who was just recently signed by the team in light of a minor injury to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Georgiev played the first two periods and stopped all 16 shots he faced before giving way to Devon Levi. Levi stopped all six shots he faced in the third.
Byram and Malenstyn’s goals gave the momentum to the Sabres for the rest of the night. They added third-period goals by Jack Quinn and Konsta Helenius to make the final score 4-0.
Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves split the game. Head coach Dean Evason said he liked the play of both his goalies. Merzlikins stopped 8 of 10 while Greaves stopped 23 of 24.
“We thought both guys were real good,” Evason said. “Elvis couldn’t do anything on the second one and didn’t see the first one. But he made some real good saves. It was real calm too in his half game. So happy with the start for both of them.”
Greaves talked about what he focuses on when he gets playing time in the preseason in order to be ready for the regular season.
“I think from my perspective, I think it’s really just being in those game situations. Seeing the traffic. Seeing the players develop the rushes and zone play and even the breakouts and things like that. Just getting back in the flow of the game situations I think is super important. It’s fun just to be back out there playing again, enjoying it.”
Newcomer Isac Lundestrom made his Blue Jackets’ debut. He believes they can build off of the start of Monday’s game.
“I think specifically we started off really good in the first period,” Lundestrom said. ” I think we had a lot of chances early on and should score on a couple there. So I think our first period is something to take on.”
The Blue Jackets and Sabres will play again this time in Buffalo on Tuesday night.
