BUFFALO — Led by a trio or rookie goals, the Buffalo Sabres came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Winnipeg Jets at First Niagara Center on Saturday.
Hudson Fasching scored his first goal as a Sabre in his first game as an NHL player at 8:37 of the first period to lead the charge. Park Pysyk and Casey Nelson assisted on the goal. The Sabres also got goals from Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel en route to the victory.
Buffalo’s deficit was due to a pair of goals by Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrew Copp.
With the victory, Buffalo’s record now stands at 31-34-10. The Sabres next play the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday in Detroit.
NOTES:
- With the win, the Sabres will finish the season with a 6-3-2 record in their 11 afternoon games this season.
- The Sabres have won consecutive matchups with the Jets/Thrashers for the first time since they won three in a row from Feb. 23 to Nov. 8, 2011.
- With his goal today, Jack Eichel became the ninth Sabres rookie to record 50 points in a season (23+27) in franchise history.
- Eichel is the first Sabres rookie to record 50 points in a season since Derek Plante (1993-94) and the youngest to do so since Phil Housley (1982-83).
- The goal was Eichel’s fifth game-winning goal of the season, tying Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Ray Sheppard for second-most by a Sabres rookie. He needs one more to tie Donald Audette for the franchise rookie record.
- With his goal, Hudson Fasching became the first Sabre to score on his first shot in his NHL debut since Zemgus Girgensons (10/2/13 at DET).
- Fasching and Casey Nelson are the first Sabres to each record his first career point on the same goal in their NHL debuts since Alexander Mogilny and Dave Snuggerud (10/5/89 vs. QUE).
This story was originally published to East Niagara Post.
