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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tage Thompson equaled an NHL record by scoring four goals in the first half and finishing with five goals and an assist as the Buffalo Sabers played their third straight away game Wednesday night, 9-4 against the Columbus Blue Jackets won.
Thompson is the second US-born player to score five goals in a game. He is the fourth player in NHL history, behind Peter Bondra (1994), Grant Mulvey (1982), and Joe Malone (1921), to score four goals in the first half of a regular-season game. This makes him the fourth active player to score five goals in one game after Timo Meier (1/17/2022), Mika Zibanejad (3/5/2020) and Patrik Laine (11/24/2018).
“It’s definitely a rewarding feeling,” Thompson said. “You’ve worked for many years to get to this point and to be rewarded for it feels pretty good and only makes you hungrier.”
Thompson’s outburst helped Buffalo score six goals in the first 16:40.
“That was an amazing performance by Tage, and really, the whole group set the table,” said Sabers coach Don Granato. “I really loved the energy, collective effort and focus on the launch and made that possible.”
Alex Tuch had one goal and three assists, Dylan Cozens added a power play goal and two assists and Rasmus Dahlin finished the game with one goal and two assists. Also Peyton met cancer. Jeff Skinner had four assists and Jacob Bryson had two. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 20 shots.
Patrik Laine and Gustav Nyquist each scored twice for Columbus.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped two shots before being pulled in the first in favor of Elvis Merzlikins, who stopped 15 shots in the second period. Korpisalo returned in the third and finished with six saves.
Columbus has lost six straight home games and lost five of the last six overall.
“We didn’t have an answer to that one line,” said Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen. “Tage Thompson just ripped us apart tonight.”
Buffalo dominated from the puck drop and scored four goals on his first six shots.
Cozens got the Sabers on the board after 3:21 of the first, 53 seconds after a Blue Jackets penalty, and Thompson made it 2-0 just 2:09 later. Dahlin scored Buffalo’s third goal at 7:28 of the first, driving Korpisalo in favor of Merzlikins from the net, who gave Buffalo’s No. 4 goal to Thompson 32 seconds later.
Thompson’s third career hat trick and second of the season came with a power play goal at 12:22 of the first. He followed with his fourth goal, also on the power play, at 4:40 p.m.
Columbus scored two goals in just over a minute, with Laine at 10:49 and Nyquist at 12:04, before Buffalo scored three straight goals in just over three minutes to end the third, including Thompson’s fifth and Gates of Cancer and Cloth.
Laine and Nyquist scored for Columbus in the third period.
Cozens has 12 points in his last five games and is driving a career-best five-game scoring streak. Thompson has eight goals and five assists in his last five games and ten multi-point games. Dahlin has a five-game point and assist streak, and Gaudreau extended his points streak to six games.
NOTES: The Sabers joined the Kraken as the second team this season to score nine goals in a game. … Thompson is the second player in Buffalo history to score five goals in a game, joining Dave Andreychuk, who had five goals and an assist on Feb. 6, 1986.
Buffalo: host Pittsburgh on Friday.
Columbus: host Calgary on Friday.
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