Matthew Knies had two goals and an assist in his debut for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 in the season opener for both teams on Thursday.
Knies was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday in a six-player deal, which sent Kirill Marchenko go to Toronto.
Charlie Coyle had three assists, Zach Werenski added two assists, and Jet Greaves made 23 saves for the Blue Jackets.
Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Konsta Helenius scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 16 saves.
Samuelsson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 7:21 of the first period. Noah Ostlund fed him a pass as he came up the middle into the zone and the defenseman held on to the puck before snapping a shot that deflected off Knies past Greaves’ glove.
Cole Sillinger pulled Columbus even at 12:51, taking a drop pass from Coyle to the left hash mark to beat Luukkonen just over his right arm.
Knies put the hosts ahead 2-1, one-timing a pass from Coyle from the slot on the power play at 17:58.
Adam Fantilli made it 3-1 less than a minute later. Zach Werenski kept the puck in at the blue line and fired a shot that Fantilli deflected past Luukkonen’s left arm at 18:44.
Quinn pulled the Sabres to within a goal early in the second period. He collected a loose puck and took it to the left circle, waiting before burying a wrist shot five-hole on Greaves to cut the deficit to 3-2 at 1:25.
Knies’ second of the night restored Columbus’ two-goal lead at 7:45. Stationed in the low slot, Knies tipped Emil Andrae’s shot from the middle of the blue line past Luukkonen.
Helenius took a feed down low in the left circle from Ryan McLeod and quickly put it high to the short-side to cut the Sabres’ deficit to 4-3 at the 13:14 mark.
After seven goals in a 26-minute span, the teams went scoreless deep into the third period. Sean Monahan took a pass from Valeri Nichushkin in the slot and redirected it past Luukkonen stick side on the power play to push it to 5-3 at 14:21 of the third period.
Mathieu Olivier scored an empty-net goal at 17:53 for the 6-3 final.
