The Buffalo Sabres opened their 2024 Prospects Challenge with a dominant 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Harborcenter on Friday, with the 20-year-old forward Jiri Kulich making a good first impression on the club hierarchy in his attempt to crack the NHL roster with a three-point performance (2 goals, 1 assist).
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The 20-year-old centered the Sabres’ top line with wingers Viktor Neuchev and Isak Rosen and opened the scoring in the middle of the first period. After Gavin Brindley After tying the score early in the second period, Buffalo regained the lead for good less than two minutes later, thanks to Kulich’s assist on Olivier Nadeau’s game-winning power-play goal.
The Sabres outshot the Blue Jackets 41-21, and Kulich provided the insurance goal early in the third period on a powerful move that beat Columbus goaltender Nolan Lalonde.
“I really liked his competitive spirit,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said after the game. “How many times did he go after the puck to keep possession? And obviously, we really liked his second goal.”
After posting two 20-plus goal seasons with Rochester in the last two seasons, the young forward needs to prove he can put in a consistent effort to make the Sabres’ opening night roster. He knows that, as he said in his postgame remarks that his play last season was “pretty lazy and not strong enough.”
Sabres lineup vs. Columbus
Before
Neuchev-Kulich-Rosen
Wahlberg-Helenius-Ostlund
Kisakov-Kozak-Nadeau
Miedema-Tullio-Cheveldayoff
Defense
Johnson-Komarov
Novikov-Laaouan
Panocha Bodin
Goalkeeper
Ratzlaff
Scoreboard
1st
Kulich (BUF) (Rosen) 10:44
2nd
Brindley (CBJ) 3:41
Nadeau (BUF) (Neuchev – Kulich) 5:23
3rd
Kulich (BUF) (Laaouan) (2:30)
Penalty Shootout
Buffalo 16-19-6 (41)
Columbus 4-9-8 (21)
The Sabres will play the The New Jersey Devils outlook Saturday night. The Devils won 9-1 against the Ottawa Senators outlook friday.
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