The Buffalo Sabres came into their game Saturday with the Columbus Blue Jackets on a tear. They had won a club-best 10 wins in a row. The Blue Jackets were coming off a disappointing loss, one in which they gave up a lead in the third period for a regulation loss. In Saturday’s contest, the Jackets stopped the streak, winning 5-1.

Columbus wasted no time at Nationwide Arena establishing itself as the team to beat, taking a 3-1 lead going into the first intermission. Denton Mateychuk got the scoring started for the Jackets with a goal just three minutes into the action. Assists went to Zach Werenski, who had missed the previous four games, and Boone Jenner.

After Josh Doan tied things at the 11:26 mark, Brendan Gaunce and Dmitri Voronkov scored for Columbus. It was Voronkov’s 14th goal of the season, tying him with Werenski and Kirill Marchenko for the team lead. Mathieu Olivier added a goal in the second period and Cole Sillinger hit an empty net in the third for the victory.

The Blue Jackets defense was the story of the afternoon. The penalty kill unit kept Buffalo off the board in their five power play opportunities. On top of that, Gaunce’s goal came on one of his PK shifts. Goaltender Jet Greaves earned the win, stopping 32 of 33 shots (.970) and was the night’s #1 star.

Talking about snapping the Sabres’ streak, Werenski said after the game, “It’s a great challenge. I feel like a team like that has a lot of confidence and you just have to meet it head on. I feel like we did that today. We weren’t caught up in the streak or anything like that. We just wanted to go out there and play our game.”

“Regardless of how many saves you make in the game, it’s the ones that you make at the key moments in the game,” said head coach Dean Evason about Greaves’ effort. “He’s a very calm guy and plays a calm game. It allows us to follow that.”

The Blue Jackets are back in action Sunday as Pittsburgh and Yegor Chinakhov, who the Penguins just received in a trade with Columbus, come to Nationwide Arena for a game that begins at 3:00 p.m.