Hurricane Tage Thompson swept through Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Wednesday. The giant-sized forward had the game of a lifetime, scoring five goals and one assist in a 9-4 Buffalo Sabers win at Columbus.
From the first twenty, the one who scored 38 goals in 2021-2022 shook the strings behind Elvis Merzlikins four times. In less than 13 minutes, Thompson had thus amassed five points, he who was also an accomplice of Dylan Cozens’ goal on the power play.
The Phoenix, Arizona, native capped off his night of outstanding work in the middle period by cheating Joonas Korpisalo this time with his swift wrist shot.
It is, oddly enough, Thompson’s second six-point game this season. He terrorized the Detroit Red Wings on Halloween in a 6-3 victory.
Thompson, acquired by the Buffalo Sabers in the trade involving Ryan O’Reilly, has scored 21 goals and 40 points in just 26 games since the start of the campaign.
Despite their outrageous dominance on the board, the Sabers only directed 30 shots towards the opposing net. Merzlikins conceded six goals on 21 attempts, while Korpisalo allowed three goals on nine shots.
Rasmus Dahlin, Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch contributed to the massacre by each scoring a goal. The latter shone in the shadow of Thompson, with a harvest of four points.
Patrik Laine and Gustav Nyquist saved the honor of the Blue Jackets by each scoring twice.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen recorded the easiest victory of his career by stopping 20 pucks.
See his five goals in the video above.
Capitals win in Philadelphia
In Philadelphia, the Washington Capitals were hot, but they still managed to save themselves with a 4-1 victory.
Decimated by injuries, the “Caps” were slow to take off.
Kevin Hayes scored in the first period, before seeing TJ Oshie respond with a one-timer on the power play in the second period.
Dylan Strome then redirected teammate John Carlson’s shot from the blue line to score the winning goal.
Late in the third period, Alexander Ovechkin took advantage of an empty net twice to score his 794th and 795th career goals. Ovechkin is now six goals away from joining Gordie Howe for second in Bettman league scoring.