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COLUMBUS [url=http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-jonathan-drouin-jersey]Jonathan Drouin Jersey[/url] , Ohio — The Buffalo Sabres, playing with a sharper edge so far this season, will try to extend their three-game winning streak on Saturday night when they visit Nationwide Arena to face the Columbus Blue Jackets.The Sabres (6-4-0) feel a different vibe with this team. They like how they’re playing after rallying from three one-goal deficits in the final two periods on Thursday night to get past the visiting Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in Buffalo, N.Y.Kyle Okposo scored the winning goal on a power play with 1:01 remaining for Buffalo, which is off to its best start after 10 games since the 2011-12 season.Article continues below ...“We bent, we didn’t break,” Okposo said, according to the team’s website. “And I don’t even think we bent. We just played the same way. That’s all we did.”Jason Pominville contributed two goals — his 27th career multi-goal game and his first since last October — in the winning effort.“Last year, we probably would’ve got in our shell and wouldn’t have had a pushback, a fight back,” Pominville said. “But now it’s a different team.”Pominville’s 497 points rank 10th in franchise history, tying him with Thomas Vanek. But he knows a team is only as good as its last game.“We’ve got to make sure we keep going, come to practice and move on,” Pominville said. “But, yeah, it shows a lot about the character this group has.” The veteran Pominville has produced six points (three goals [url=http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-karl-alzner-jersey]http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-karl-alzner-jersey[/url] , three assists) in the last three games as a result of aggressively crashing the net on a line that includes Jeff Skinner and Jack Eichel. Skinner leads the Sabres in scoring with 10 points (five goals, five assists) and Eichel is right behind with nine (3-6).“Jason’s just done a good job of going there,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “He’s been rewarded. … That’s one of the things we’ve been focusing on, driving to the net hard and stopping there and paying a price.”The Blue Jackets (5-4-0) are feeling better about their game after ending a two-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night in St. Louis.After falling behind 2-0 in the opening period, the Blue Jackets reeled off four straight goals and kept the Blues at bay.Boone Jenner and Anthony Duclair each accounted for two goals, and All-Star Seth Jones scored his first in his second game since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for the first three weeks of the season.Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella harped on aggressiveness and that’s what he got against the Blues.“We were harder on pucks,” Tortorella said. “We were cognizant of protecting the puck, taking hits to protect pucks. It was much more consistent on that style of game. Everybody contributed. We played the style we need to play.”Josh Anderson added a goal for the Blue Jackets to boost his team-leading total to five. Artemi Panarin is the club’s points leader with 12 (three goals, nine assists).“We were definitely a meaner team and playing that physical part of the game,” Anderson said. “I think it’s going to help us going into the next game too.”The Blue Jackets return home, where their record is 2-3 this year, and hope to play like they have on the road, where they’re 3-1.Backup Joonas Korpisalo was in goal for the win in St. Louis, improving his record to 3-0.Blue Jackets No. 1 goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has struggled to a 2-4 record with a lackluster 3.87 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage but is projected to start against Buffalo. He is 10-4-1 with a 2.50 GAA and a .921 save percentage lifetime against the Sabres. TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs will be out to regain momentum Saturday night and the St. Louis Blues would like to start some momentum of their own.The Maple Leafs (6-2-0) had a five-game winning streak end Thursday night with a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and will be trying to resume winning when they host the Blues (1-3-2).“We’re obviously (upset) and disappointed that we didn’t get the result,” said Maple Leafs center John Tavares, who took seven shots Thursday. “It’s a good learning opportunity and it’s a good test now to try to find that momentum back and get back in the win column.”Article continues below ...The Blues have lost twice in overtime and could not hold third-period leads three times. The Montreal Canadiens defeated them 3-2 Wednesday on Brendan Gallagher’s goal at 19:49 of the third period.“Bottom line [url=http://www.officialredwings.com/authentic-adidas-jonathan-bernier-jersey]Jonathan Bernier Jersey Womens[/url] , we’re faced with some adversity right now,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “For me, this is when we’ll really see what people have to bring. This is when you really say something to your teammates. This is when you really show your character.“Obviously, I’ve got to do a better job as head coach, making sure we’re prepared to play, making sure we’re ready to play the right way. Making sure that guys who aren’t, are held accountable. And making sure that we get the right guys on the ice.”St. Louis can take some encouragement knowing that both Toronto losses came at home.The game will also be a homecoming for former Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak, who signed as a free agent with the Blues on July 1. He has one goal and one assist in six games this season.“He’s a real good hockey player, real good hockey sense, real good faceoff guy, good in the power play,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Friday at practice. “I thought his last year here was his best in the three years that I had him and obviously he’ll be an important part for them.”Bozak played between Pat Maroon and Alexander Steen for the first time in Montreal and that line could remain intact for the game Saturday. They line combined for eight shots on goal.In a Thursday practice in Toronto, two-time All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester was used on the fourth pairing with Jakub Jerabek, leading to speculation that he might not play against the Maple Leafs.“Obviously, we’re considering everything right now,” Yeo said. “Again [url=http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-mike-reilly-jersey]Mike Reilly Jersey[/url] , the results that we’re getting, we have to consider everything.”Bouwmeester, 35, was limited to 35 games last season because of a fractured ankle and a hip injury that resulted in surgery.The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, had more than a winning streak stopped Thursday. Center Auston Matthews had at least two points in each of the first seven games until Thursday when the Maple Leafs were shut out for the first time this season. He has 10 goals and six assists despite being without a goal in his past two games.One of the keys to the Penguins’ success Thursday was that they kept the Maple Leafs on the outside, limiting close-in chances so that many of Toronto’s 38 shots (Pittsburgh took 39) were not dangerous.“I think there are a lot of things that we can improve on,” Matthews said. “It seems like they were just calm, cool, collected out there. They didn’t run around, they just played smart and didn’t force anything and made plays. It seemed like they had us running around quite a bit.”The Maple Leafs were in it until the Penguins scored twice on an empty net.“I think we’ve got to do a little better just sustaining some of the momentum we create,” Tavares said.
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