Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson tied a franchise record with five goals against the host Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
Thompson tied the mark at 16:07 of the second period, which put the Sabres up 7-2 on their way to a 9-4 win. It was his 21st goal of the season. He became the second Buffalo player with five goals in a game, joining Dave Andreychuk, who accomplished the feat against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 6, 1986.
Thompson’s five goals are the second-most in a road game. Only Red Berenson of the St. Louis Blues had more, scoring six at the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 7, 1968.
Through two periods, Thompson had six points.
“It’s definitely a rewarding feeling,” Thompson said. “You’ve spent a lot of years working to get to this point and to be rewarded for it is a pretty good feeling and it just leaves you hungrier.”
Thompson helped open the scoring with a secondary assist on Dylan Cozens‘ power-play goal at 3:21 of the first period. He started his onslaught of goals at 5:32 of the period on an assist from Alex Tuch. After defenseman Rasmus Dahlin made it 3-0, Thompson scored again just 22 seconds later on another assist from Tuch. Thompson’s third and fourth goals of the period came 4:18 apart, both on power plays.
“That was an amazing performance by Tage, and really the whole group set the table,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “I thought the energy, the collective effort, the focus to start was really good and enabled that to happen.”
Thompson scored four goals in just 5:14 of ice time. He became the first Sabres player to score four goals and earn five points in a period. Thompson became the fourth player in NHL history to score four goals in the first period, the last being Peter Bondra of the Washington Capitals in 1994.
“We didn’t have an answer for that one line,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “Tage Thompson just tore us up tonight.”
The most points scored in an NHL regular-season game is 10 by Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 7, 1976. The most goals scored in an NHL game is seven, set by Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs in 1920.