Game #1 recap, the Blue Jackets outduel the Sabres on opening Night

Well, that was fun, wasn't it?

After what was quite possibly the most tumultuous summer in franchise history, the Columbus Blue Jackets finally took the ice last night for Opening Night against the Buffalo Sabres. The final result was more lopsided than the oddsmakers and even myself were expecting. The Jackets took their first game of the season by a final score of 6 to 3, sending the Sabres packing back to New York and securing two points to start off the 2026-2027 campaign.

Both hockey clubs started out the evening with what felt like a feeling out process as they settled into their games. Buffalo ultimately settled quicker than the sluggish to start Blue Jackets, as Mattias Samuelsson sent one past Jet Greaves at 7:21 of the first period.

After that, it really felt like the Union Blue came alive.

Cole Sillinger would score the year's first goal for Columbus off of a wicked drop pass from linemate Charlie Coyle at 12:51 in the 1st. Next up, Matthew Knies scored his first goal as a Blue Jacket on the powerplay, aided by some brilliant passing from Coyle again and Zach Werenski.

Adam Fantilli wrapped up the period for the Jackets by tipping in a Z shot around the net, and Columbus headed to the first intermission up to 3 to 1. They didn't give up the lead the rest of the way home.

Although Jack Quinn would add one at even strength at 1:25 PM off of a bad turnover by new Blue Jacket Emil Andrae at the blue line, it didn't seem as if the team panicked (perhaps unlike they would have in years past).

Knies added another six minutes later, tipping in an Andrae shot rebound past Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. While the Sabres would add another from Konsta Helenius before the end of the second, the Jackets still went back to the dressing room up 4 to 3.

But then came the dreaded third period, the frame in which the CBJ were outscored by other 20 goals last season. Thankfully, the Jackets held up, plating two more goals, one on the power play from Sean Monahan, and a final empty netter from Mathieu Olivier to finish the game at 6 to 3.

The three stars of the night were easily the three best players for the Jackets: new Blue Jacket Matthew Knies took home first star honors with 2 goals and an assist, tied for the most points in a Jackets debut (Artemi Panarin in 2017), and becoming the only Jacket to score multiple goals in his debut.

Following Knies was Zach Werenski, who put up 2 assists and played 28:48 in all situations last night. Coyle rounded it out with his three assists, of which the drop pass to Sillinger to start the year was a beauty.

Social media predictions galore.

This season, we're asking for your predictions on social media. We will do our best to share the correct predictions in our articles, starting with this one from Jonathan Barnes, who nailed everything he said (though, that Jake Christiansen point was a gimme).

We had some close guesses over on Facebook as well, though nobody was quite as precise as Jonathan. Give us a follow on our channels, come and take part!

The Jackets will take their perfect start to the season up against the Utah Mammoth from Nationwide on Saturday. The Mammoth come off a 6-0 drubbing of the lowly Chicago Blackhawks to start the season, and will be another solid test for a Jackets club that looked solid against a playoff club in the Sabres from last season.

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