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Columbus Blue Jackets at Buffalo Sabres

KeyBank Center, Buffalo Preseason Final

Final score

The Buffalo Sabres beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2–1 on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at home.

Team Goals 2025-2026 record
Columbus Blue Jackets 1 40-30-12
at Buffalo Sabres 2 50-23-9

Goals by period

Team Total
Columbus Blue Jackets 0 1 0 1
Buffalo Sabres 0 1 1 2

Shots on goal by period

Team Total
Columbus Blue Jackets 12 2 5 19
Buffalo Sabres 11 14 9 34

Three stars

  1. J. Zucker, Buffalo Sabres (1 goal)
  2. T. Thompson, Buffalo Sabres (1 goal)
  3. Z. Benson, Buffalo Sabres (1 assist)

Scoring summary

Period Time Team Goal Assists Type Score
2nd 08:37 Columbus Blue Jackets Miles Wood (1) Daemon Hunt (1), Hudson Fasching (2) Power play CBJ 1, BUF 0
2nd 17:54 Buffalo Sabres Tage Thompson (1) Zach Benson (1), Josh Norris (1) Even strength CBJ 1, BUF 1
3rd 11:57 Buffalo Sabres Jason Zucker (1) Konsta Helenius (1), Ryan McLeod (1) Even strength CBJ 1, BUF 2

Numbers in brackets are the player's season totals after the goal.

Team stats

Stat Columbus Blue Jackets Buffalo Sabres
Shots on goal 19 34
Power play 1 of 4 0 of 4
Penalty minutes 8 8
Hits 26 33
Blocked shots 10 10
Giveaways 11 12
Takeaways 2 1
Faceoffs won 17/52 (32.7%) 35/52 (67.3%)

Box score

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets skaters
Player
11 M. Wood L 1 0 1 -1 0 5 1 0 1 21:16
16 B. Gaunce C 0 0 0 -1 0 1 1 1 0 40% 14:38
20 H. Fasching R 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 15:30
21 I. Lundestrom C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27.8% 18:17
27 Z. Aston-Reese L 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 16:41
62 R. Bezeau R 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 11:33
63 R. Mosley L 0 0 0 -1 0 4 4 1 0 12:29
65 L. Del Bel Belluz C 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 42.9% 19:34
82 M. Pyyhtia L 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 12:32
83 O. Keskinen C 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 1 0 15:33
88 R. Ahcan L 0 0 0 -1 0 1 3 1 0 08:48
93 M. McCue C 0 0 0 -1 0 0 4 1 0 25% 12:52
2 J. Christiansen D 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 1 0 22:14
14 D. Hunt D 0 1 1 -1 2 0 1 2 0 25:45
37 D. Mayo D 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 0 0 14:48
57 C. Elick D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 19:57
81 S. Svozil D 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 0 0 13:37
94 C. MacDonald D 0 0 0 -1 4 1 0 0 0 17:59
Columbus Blue Jackets goalies
Goalie
28 I. Fedotov 25 24 1 .960 40:00
36 Z. Sawchenko 9 8 1 .889 17:57 Loss

Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres skaters
Player
6 Z. Benson L 0 1 1 +1 0 2 3 0 0 15:02
9 J. Norris C 0 1 1 +1 0 0 0 0 0 78.6% 20:18
13 J. Leschyshyn C 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 69.2% 13:37
17 J. Zucker L 1 0 1 +1 2 3 4 0 0 21:16
41 T. Kopff C 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 10:15
48 T. Kozak C 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 80% 12:33
55 M. Geertsen L 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 09:10
63 I. Rosen R 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 12:20
71 R. McLeod C 0 1 1 +1 0 1 0 0 0 58.3% 22:37
72 T. Thompson C 1 0 1 +1 0 6 2 1 0 50% 19:57
79 V. Neuchev L 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 09:27
94 K. Helenius C 0 1 1 +1 2 2 4 0 0 16:01
21 C. Timmins D 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 5 0 20:02
23 M. Samuelsson D 0 0 0 +1 0 0 1 1 0 21:42
26 R. Dahlin D 0 0 0 +1 0 6 2 0 0 25:37
28 Z. Jones D 0 0 0 +1 0 2 0 0 0 15:42
33 R. Johnson D 0 0 0 +1 0 1 1 1 0 12:14
78 J. Bryson D 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 16:30
Buffalo Sabres goalies
Goalie
27 D. Levi 5 5 0 1.000 19:27 Win
34 A. Lyon 14 13 1 .929 39:47

Penalties

Period Time Team Player Infraction Minutes
1st 07:18 Buffalo Sabres Conor Timmins Interference 2
1st 10:08 Columbus Blue Jackets Daemon Hunt Hooking 2
1st 19:02 Columbus Blue Jackets Caleb MacDonald Holding 2
2nd 04:42 Columbus Blue Jackets Zachary Aston-Reese Tripping 2
2nd 08:11 Buffalo Sabres Jacob Bryson Tripping 2
2nd 19:52 Buffalo Sabres Jason Zucker High sticking 2
3rd 07:23 Columbus Blue Jackets Caleb MacDonald Holding 2
3rd 15:20 Buffalo Sabres Konsta Helenius Hooking 2

Game information

Columbus Blue Jackets head coach
Dean Evason
Buffalo Sabres head coach
Lindy Ruff
Referees
Brandon Blandina, Beau Halkidis
Linesmen
Brad Kovachik, Tyson Baker
Columbus Blue Jackets scratches
Brendan Smith, Charlie Coyle, Erik Gudbranson, Boone Jenner, Damon Severson, Peter Quenneville, Sean Monahan, Elvis Merzlikins, Zach Werenski, Ivan Provorov, Christian Jaros, Dante Fabbro, Mathieu Olivier, Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm, Egor Chinakhov, Kent Johnson, Corson Ceulemans, Guillaume Richard, Cole Sillinger, James Malatesta, Nikolai Makarov, Jet Greaves, Kirill Dolzhenkov, Denton Mateychuk, Owen Sillinger, Will MacKinnon, Jordan Dumais, James Fisher, Sergei Ivanov, Nolan Lalonde, Hunter McKown, Adam Fantilli, Tyler Peddle, Luca Pinelli, Andrew Strathmann, William Whitelaw, Melvin Strahl, Nicholas Sima, Luca Marrelli, Cayden Lindstrom, Tanner Henricks, Luke Ashton, Marcus Kearsey, Ryder Boulton, Malte Vass, Jackson Smith, Jack Williams, Pyotr Andreyanov, Owen Griffin, Victor Hedin Raftheim, Jeremy Loranger, Brendan Hoffman, Will Bishop, Evan Van Gorp, Noah Jenken, PJ Fagan, Josh Avery, Mason Vaccari, Jakub Chromiak
Buffalo Sabres scratches
Artem Kriukov, Alex Tuch, Jordan Greenway, Brendan Warren, Beck Malenstyn, Vasily Glotov, Justin Danforth, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Jack Rathbone, Carson Meyer, Alexandar Georgiev, Michael Kesselring, Peter Tischke, Peyton Krebs, Bowen Byram, Jack Quinn, Matteo Costantini, Trevor Kuntar, Josh Dunne, Josh Doan, Redmond Savage, Owen Power, Olivier Nadeau, Prokhor Poltapov, Isaac Belliveau, Nikita Novikov, Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Noah Laaouan, Jiri Kulich, Topias Leinonen, Noah Ostlund, Graham Slaggert, Joel Ratkovic Berndtsson, Vsevolod Komarov, Gustav Karlsson, Jake Richard, Gavin McCarthy, Scott Ratzlaff, Maxim Strbak, Anton Wahlberg, Jagger Joshua, Aidan Fulp, Zach Metsa, Sean Keohane, Norwin Panocha, Brodie Ziemer, Adam Kleber, Luke Osburn, Simon-Pier Brunet, Patrick Geary, Ryerson Leenders, Vasily Zelenov, David Bedkowski, Radim Mrtka, Matous Jan Kucharcik, Samuel Meloche, Noah Laberge, Ashton Schultz, Melvin Novotny, Yevgeni Prokhorov, Ryan Rucinski

2025-2026 season series

Matchup Status Details
Buffalo Sabres 4 at Columbus Blue Jackets 0 Final Preseason Game page
Columbus Blue Jackets 1 at Buffalo Sabres 2 Final Preseason Game page

Other NHL games on Sep 23

Matchup Status Details
Boston Bruins 5 at New York Rangers 4 Final/OT Preseason Game page
Chicago Blackhawks 2 at Detroit Red Wings 3 Final Preseason Game page
New York Islanders 2 at New Jersey Devils 6 Final Preseason Game page
Ottawa Senators 3 at Toronto Maple Leafs 2 Final/OT Preseason Game page
Philadelphia Flyers 2 at Montreal Canadiens 4 Final Preseason Game page
Minnesota Wild 2 at Dallas Stars 3 Final/OT Preseason Game page
Edmonton Oilers 3 at Winnipeg Jets 2 Final Preseason Game page
Tampa Bay Lightning 3 at Nashville Predators 2 Final/2OT Preseason Game page
Seattle Kraken 1 at Calgary Flames 4 Final Preseason Game page
Los Angeles Kings 3 at Vegas Golden Knights 1 Final Preseason Game page

Sources and further reading

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