Halfway through the first four.
Alexander Georgiev and Devon Levi were perfect as the Buffalo Sabres shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 in Monday night's preseason game at Nationwide Arena.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
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0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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CBJ GOALS: |
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Bowen Byram, Beck Malenstyn, Jack Quinn, and Konsta Helenius were the goal scorers for Buffalo.
Columbus won Sunday's preseason opener 4-1 over the St. Louis Blues, while Monday was the Sabres' first game of the exhibition season.
Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason has said his players will play in at least three preseason games, and while many regulars have yet to debut, we've seen the goaltenders now.
Here are three things from the Blue Jackets' second preseason game of 2025-26:
Thing 1: Goaltending Competition
If you're keeping score on the way to who might get the opening night nod in goal for Columbus, Jet Greaves might get the early check in that box after Monday's game.
Elvis Merzlikins started the first half of the game and was perfect with four saves through a quiet first period.
In the second period, the Sabres struck twice on Merzlikins, with Byram's goal at 4:51 (Assists: Radim Mrtka, Tyson Kozak) and Malenstyn's tally (Assists: Owen Power, Michael Kesselring) at 8:25. Merzlikins finished the night with eight saves on 10 shots.
Bowen Byram#SabreHood #CBJ
— 2 Goalies 1 Mic (@2Goalies1Mic) September 23, 2025
pic.twitter.com/U14FwY1chV
Beck Malenstyn adds to the lead!
— The Sabre Report (@TheSabreReport) September 23, 2025
2-0 Sabres. pic.twitter.com/bVkh6sbLAt
Greaves took over at 10:01 in the second period and was nearly perfect throughout the rest of the night, making 23 saves on 24 shots. Quinn scored the empty-net goal at 15:01 (Assists: Jiri Kulich, Josh Doan) of the third period, and Helenius was finally able to beat Greaves at 19:11 (Assists: Anton Wahlberg, Vsevolod Komarov).
KONSTA HELENIUS pic.twitter.com/FokF7Db0gQ
— The Charging Buffalo (@TheChargingBUF) September 23, 2025
Going back to last season, Greaves was cool and calm in the net on Monday night. What does he work on in the preseason to make sure he's ready for game one?
"From my perspective, I think it's really just being in those game situations," Greaves said. "Seeing the traffic, seeing the plays develop, the rushes, the end zone play, and even the breakouts.
"Getting back in the flow of the game situations is super important, and it's fun to be back out there playing again."
Sunday's preseason tilt featured Ivan Fedotov and Evan Gardner sharing the crease for Columbus. Fedotov stopped 14 of 15 shots, and Gardner stopped all six faced.
Thing 2: Preseason For The Offense
It's preseason for everyone, including the offense.
#CBJ morning skate lines/pairs for tonight's game vs. Buffalo:
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) September 22, 2025
Marchenko-Fantilli-Johnson
ZAR-Lundestrom-Malatesta
Pinelli-McKown-Williams
McCue-Griffin-Mosley
Provorov-Severson
Richard-Ceulemans
MacDonald-Jaros
Merzlikins/Greaves
The Jackets held the first-period advantage for shot attempts with a 20-8 edge, but for the game, the Sabres had a 56-50 advantage in all situations per Natural Stat Trick. Buffalo outshot the Blue Jackets 35-22 for the game, including 15-6 in the third period. Guillaume Richard led the team with four shots. Max McCue led the forwards with three shots. Zach Aston-Reese led Columbus with seven hits.
"We really liked the first period," Evason said. "We didn't get rewarded, but we did a lot of really good things. Thought in the first, we corrected some stuff from (Sunday's game) as far as getting pucks through a little bit more and generating a bit. We didn't get rewarded, and it just fizzled after that.
"We didn't like our game, except our goalies, for the next two periods, but we'll take some positives out of the first period."
Georgiev made 16 saves through the first two periods. Levi came into the game in the third period and made six stops.
Columbus was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and never had a power play chance.
Thing 3: Show Some Fight
In the first period at 17:27, McCue and former Blue Jacket Josh Dunne dropped the gloves for their first scrap.
A scrap! Max McCue against the former Jacket, Josh Dunne. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/qTbQaRlkh4
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) September 22, 2025
McCue played in 46 games for the Cleveland Monsters last season, his rookie season, scoring eight points (two goals, six assists). McCue was 11th among all AHLers with 122 penalty minutes and led the Monsters in this area.
Dunne played 16 career games for the Blue Jackets between 2020-23 and a pair of games for the Sabres last season.
Up Next:
The Blue Jackets continue their home-and-home with the Sabres on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Columbus returns home on Wednesday to play the Pittsburgh Penguins.
