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Columbus Blue Jackets ‘Jet’ past Buffalo Sabres to avoid elimination

Blue Jackets avoid playoff elimination by riding rookie Jet Greaves’ 39-save fill-in performance in 3-2 comeback win over Sabres.

They still need a lot of help, but the Blue Jackets and rookie goalie Jet Greaves avoided elimination from the playoff race in the NHL’s Eastern Conference on Thursday night at Nationwide Arena.

Overcoming a 2-1 deficit starting the third period, they made Greaves’ 39 saves stand up for a big 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres in front of 16,406, preserving their slim hopes in a playoff chase for the East’s final wild card with four games remaining. The Blue Jackets (36-33-9) can be eliminated while idle Friday if the Montreal Canadiens win in regulation, but they did their part to keep the season viable another day longer.

“We have to be desperate, right?” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “We’re more worried about what we’re doing. We played well enough and hard enough here tonight to get two points. We need to continue to do that in the last four games.”

Buffalo took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by JJ Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin before Blue Jackets forward James van Riemsdyk cut it to 2-1 with 8.1 seconds left in the period on a breakaway. 

Neither team scored in the second, when the Sabres outshot Columbus 18-7, but the Jackets surged into the lead in the third on goals by Zach Aston-Reese at 4:00 to tie it 2-2 and go ahead 3-2 at 6:42 on captain Boone Jenner’s power-play goal.

“The spot we’re in, we need these points,” Jenner said. “We talked about it before the third. No matter what happened that first 40 (minutes), we had to go out and win a period, and I liked our (resilience) to do that. We just stuck to it, tried to win a shift and go on to the next. Big goal by ‘Reeser to get it tied and we just kept going from there.”

Greaves, meanwhile, was outstanding in the Blue Jackets’ net, allowing two goals on the first seven shots he faced before stopping 34 more in a row after joining the team in the afternoon as an emergency recall from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.

“Very impressive,” Jenner said. “Plays last night, he comes up here, drives today, comes in … that’s not easy playing back-to-back in two different cities and two different leagues. He comes in here, and we know him very well. He works extremely hard every day, he’s a great teammate, so I’m happy to see him in there and get rewarded with that effort today. He battled all night for us.”

Greaves, who played for Cleveland on Wednesday, was recalled after Elvis Merzlikins was ruled out with an undisclosed injury following the morning skate. James Reimer (27 saves) started in net for the Sabres, who’d won five straight games and eight of their past nine.

“I’m happy anytime I get to play,” Greaves said, smiling. “It’s OK, but it’s part of it. Once you’re in the game, you settle in, and it’s just about competing and trying to win a hockey game. So, it was fun to be out there, and the guys did a great job helping me get into the game. They did a great job all night.”

Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social 

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