Buffalo’s Tage Thompson Scores Five Goals as Sabres Rout Blue Jackets 9-4

Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres had quite a night in Columbus on December 7th. Actually, it would have made for quite a week or two. Thompson scored five goals and had an assist as the Sabres beat the Blue Jackets 9-4.

Thompson scored four of those goals in the first period and the Sabres led 6-0 at the first intermission. Dylan Cozens scored the first goal, and Thompson got his assist there, his 19th of the season. Thompson then scored the next one, followed by Rasmus Dahlin’s ninth of the season. Thompson scored the last three of the period.

The Blue Jackets opened the 2nd period with a pair of goals; Buffalo countered with Thompson’s 5th of the night and one each form Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, making it 9-2 after two periods. The Blue Jackets’ Patrik Laine and Gustav Nyquist each scored their second goals of the night in the 3rd period; that was the only scoring in the final frame as Buffalo prevailed 9-4.

The scoring outburst propelled Thompson into the ranks of the NHL scoring leaders. Thompson has 21 goals, third in the league, and is fourth in the league in points with 40. The Sabres, however are languishing near the bottom of the standings in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference as a whole, so maybe this will jumpstart their season.