COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tage Thompson scored four times in the first period to set an NHL record and finish with five goals and an assist as the Buffalo Sabers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 9-4 on Wednesday night for their third straight game. won the road game.
Thompson is the second US-born player to score five goals in a game. He is the fourth player in NHL history to score four goals in the first period of a regular season game, joining Peter Bondra (1994), Grant Mulvey (1982) and Joe Malone (1921). He is also the fourth active player to score five goals in a game, joining Timo Meyer (January 17, 2022), Mika Zibanejad (March 5, 2020) and Patrick Laine (November 24, 2018). is a player.
“It’s definitely a rewarding feeling,” Thompson said. “You’ve worked for years to get to this point and to be rewarded for it is a great feeling and it makes you even hungrier.”
Thompson’s burst helped Buffalo score six times in the first 16:40.
“It was a great performance by Tage and really the whole group set the table,” Sabers coach Don Granato said. “I thought the energy, the team effort, the focus to begin with was great and made it happen.”
Alex Tuch had a goal and three assists, Dylan Cozens added a power play goal and two assists and Rasmus Dahlin finished with a goal and two assists. Peyton Krebs also scored. Jeff Skinner had four assists and Jacob Bryson had two assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 20 shots.
Patrick Lane and Gustav Newkist each scored two goals for Columbus.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped two shots before being pulled in favor of Elvis Merzlikins in the first, stopping 15 shots during the second period. Korpisalo returned in the third and finished with six saves.
Columbus has lost six straight home games and five of its last six overall.
“We didn’t have an answer to that one question,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “Tage Thompson tore us up tonight.”
Buffalo dominated the puck scoring four of its first six shots.
Cozens put the Sabers on the board at 3:21 of the first, 53 seconds after a Blue Jackets penalty, and Thompson made it 2-0 just 2:09 later. Dahlin scored Buffalo’s third goal of the first at 7:28, forcing Korpisalo out of the net in favor of Merzlikins, before giving up Buffalo’s No. 4 goal to Thompson 32 seconds later.
Thompson’s third career hat trick and second goal of the season came on a power play goal at 12:22 of the first. He scored his fourth goal on the power play at 16:40.
Columbus scored twice in a little more than a minute, Lane at 10:49 and Nyquist at 12:04, and Buffalo scored three straight in a little more than three minutes. ‘gry missed the ball, including Thompson’s fifth and goals by Krebs and Tuch.
Lane and Nyquist scored in Columbus’ third period.
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