Miles Wood has had an eventful start to his Columbus Blue Jackets career. Traded to the CBJ this past summer, along with Colorado teammate Charlie Coyle, he suffered an eye injury in the Blue Jackets home opener on Oct. 13 when New Jersey defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s stick got under his visor.

Wood returned to the Columbus lineup Tuesday and scored the Blue Jackets’ final two goals in their 4-3 overtime win at Buffalo. The Manchester, Mass. native is known for his tough two-way play with the speed to be good at both.

Both of Tuesday’s goals came in front of the net,  just two weeks after Wood was lying face down on the rink at Nationwide Arena, wondering aloud if his eye was still attached in the midst of the blood and ice. He didn’t shy away from the so-called “dirty” areas Tuesday and that aggressive nature won the game for the Blue Jackets.

Columbus’s game with Sabres was the first game of back-to-back contests. The Toronto Maple Leafs come to Nationwide Arena Wednesday.

Tuesday’s game started well for the Blue Jackets. Yegor Chinakhov posted the only goal of the first period after picking up a turnover in the corner and skating to the net where he flipped a backhand past Buffalo goaltender Alex Lyon. 

In the second period, the Sabres scored two goals to take the lead until Zach Werenski tied the score with a power play goal 16 seconds before the intermission. Buffalo retook the lead just 2:40 into the third period when former Blue Jacket Josh Dunne recorded his first goal of the season. Enter Miles Wood.

Wood had helped create the takeaway that led to Chinakhov’s goal in the first period. With 6:05 left in the third, he tied the score when he skated across the front of the Sabres’ goal and chipped in a puck thrown toward the net by Chinakhov.

In the overtime, Wood took a pass from Werenski at the right post and batted it over Lyon’s shoulder for the win. He now has three goals in just over three games played and seven shots on goal. It was a triumphant return indeed.