Matthew Knies records two goals and an assist as Columbus Blue Jackets beat Buffalo Sabres 6-3 in season opener

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

COLUMBUS — Matthew Knies scored twice and added an assist in his Columbus Blue Jackets debut, lifting the Blue Jackets to a 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in both teams’ season opener at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

The Blue Jackets’ win came with Knies joining the club after being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday in a six-player trade that sent forward Kirill Marchenko to Toronto. Columbus also received three assists from Charlie Coyle, two assists from Zach Werenski, and 23 saves from goalie Jet Greaves.

For Buffalo, Mattias Samulesson, Jack Quinn and Konsta Helenius scored, while Owen Power and Noah Ostlund each recorded two assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 16 saves for the Sabres in the loss.

Knies gave Columbus a 2-1 lead at 17:58 of the first period on a power-play goal. The goal came on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Coyle, marking the high point of a first period in which the game started with a Buffalo strike.

Samuelsson opened the scoring at 7:21 of the first period. His snap shot from the high slot deflected off the stick of Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk during 4-on-4 play, setting up a back-and-forth sequence that Columbus ultimately took control of.

Cole Sillinger tied the game 1-1 at 12:51 of the first period, scoring from the left hash marks after taking a drop pass from Coyle. Later in the period, Adam Fantilli pushed the Blue Jackets ahead again when he scored at 18:44 to make it 3-1.

Fantilli’s goal followed a notable offseason timeline: the forward was a training camp holdout before signing a six-year, $82.5 million contract with an average annual value of $13.75 million on Sept. 24, and he did not play any preseason games.

After Quinn pulled Buffalo within one at 1:25 of the second period, scoring on a shot from the left circle to make it 3-2, Knies extended Columbus’s cushion to 4-2 at 7:45. That goal came as the Blue Jackets completed the penalty kill with Buffalo on a two-man advantage for two minutes, then produced a redirection finish from Knies to restore the two-goal margin.

The scoring continued as Helenius cut Columbus’s lead to 4-3 at 13:14 of the second period with a one-timer from low in the left circle. Columbus responded in the third period with a power-play goal from Sean Monahan at 14:21 to make it 5-3, and Mathieu Olivier added an empty-net goal at 17:53 to set the final score at 6-3.

The NHL.com recap also noted that Knies became the first player to score multiple goals in a Columbus debut, and he tied Artemi Panarin’s mark for the most points in a Blue Jackets debut, a record that Panarin set with three assists on Oct. 6, 2017.