Not done yet.
Boone Jenner scored the go-ahead goal on the power play to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Thursday night at Nationwide Arena.
The loss snaps the Sabres’ five-game winning streak.
Jet Greaves made 39 saves on 41 shots. James Reimer made 27 saves on 30 shots as his career-best seven-game winning streak ended.
Jet Gives Jackets Extra Life
During the Blue Jackets' morning skate on Thursday, Elvis Merzlikins participated and was in the starter's net but wound up missing the game due to an injury. Greaves was brought up on emergency recall and backstopped the Cleveland Monsters to a 4-3 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday night, making 19 saves.
As the Blue Jackets begin the final week of the season, it would be nice to see Greaves get additional NHL opportunities. He's made several spot starts over the last few seasons and has never looked out of place in any of the starts. He's 3-2-2 this season and nearly had his first career shutout over the St. Louis Blues in a 2-1 win on Jan. 11.
The decision to start Greaves in place of Merzlikins after playing the night before up the road is also noteworthy, considering Daniil Tarasov was available. Tarasov was pulled early in Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Rasmus Dahlin's 16th goal, assisted by Zach Benson (18) and Jiri Kulich (9), started the scoring at 14:39 of the first period. JJ Peterka (25) added on at 11:54, assisted by Ryan McLeod (31) and Dahlin (48). Peterka is on a three-game point streak (two goals, one assist).
Sabres 2, #CBJ 1 after two periods. 18 shots on goal in that period for Buffalo, all turned aside by Jet Greaves. Shots on goal 26-19 overall in favor of the Sabres, but it's a one-shot game for the Jackets.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 11, 2025
Jake Christiansen (upper body) left the game in the first period after blocking a shot high. Zach Werenski (hand) left in the third period but returned.
Zach Werenski got checked into the wall after the zone entry before that #CBJ power play goal and was favoring his upper body as he skated slowly to the bench and then went up the tunnel.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 11, 2025
Greaves was perfect after the first period, keeping his team in it with 18 second-period saves and 15 in the third to garner First Star of the Night honors.
JVR Gets His 15th
What a signing James van Riemsdyk has been.
With the Blue Jackets trailing by two late in the first period, van Riemsdyk (15) scored at 19:51 to cut the deficit to one. Kent Johnson picked up the primary assist thanks to his nice up-ice pass to find van Riemsdyk. Werenski keeps adding to his career year totals with his 56th assist and 76th point. The 76-point season tied Ray Whitney (2002-03) for the fourth-most points in a single season. His 56 assists in a season are tied with Jakub Voracek's 2021-22 campaign for the second-most in an individual season behind Artemi Panarin's 89 in 2018-19.
Columbus goal!
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 10, 2025
Scored by James van Riemsdyk with 00:09 remaining in the 1st period.
Assisted by Kent Johnson and Zach Werenski.
Columbus: 1
Buffalo: 2#BUFvsCBJ #CBJ #SabreHood pic.twitter.com/QWXSASQLbD
Signed to a one-year contract for $900k, van Riemsdyk has chipped in with 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 67 games. A solid veteran presence who has given the Blue Jackets what they were hoping for and more.
Grit And Greasy
Winning hockey teams can stack wins in a variety of ways. Sometimes, you need secondary scoring from your fourth line, and sometimes the captain does the damage.
Zach Aston-Reese (6) tied the game 2-2 at 4:00 with Erik Gudbranson (3) getting the assist.
After going 57 games without finding the back of the net, Zach Aston-Reese gets his second goal in four games to tie it up at 2-2 at the 4:00 mark of the third period. #CBJ now lead it 3-2 with 12:44 left.pic.twitter.com/A6ErEDuEYQ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 11, 2025
Jenner (7) gave the Blue Jackets their first lead of the night at 6:42 on the power play, the first power play for either team. Kirill Marchenko (40) and Sean Monahan (33) picked up the assists.
Power play goal for Columbus!
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 11, 2025
Scored by Boone Jenner with 13:18 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan.
Columbus: 3
Buffalo: 2#BUFvsCBJ #CBJ #SabreHood pic.twitter.com/aWNVHexLv2
With his assist, Marchenko (31-40-71) and D Zach Werenski (20-56-76) become just the fifth set of Blue Jackets teammates to each post 40-plus assists in a single season (Gaudreau, 48 & Werenski, 46 in 2023-24; Panarin, 55 & Jones, 41 in 2017-18; Johansen, 45 & Foligno, 42 in https://t.co/5a3crbW5NS
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) April 11, 2025
The goal is Jenner’s 199th career goal as he chases down Cam Atkinson (213) and Rick Nash (289) for the most in franchise history.
Another Back-To-Back
Columbus takes on the Washington Capitals on Saturday, April 12 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Then both teams travel to D.C. for a 6 p.m. ET contest on Sunday, April 13, from Capital One Arena.
