- Matthew Knies scored on the power play in his first game with the Blue Jackets
- He also set up a second Columbus goal 46 seconds later against the Sabres
- Read below for the video of Knies’ first Blue Jackets goal
Matthew Knies didn’t need long to make an impression in Columbus.
Three days after the Maple Leafs traded him, Knies scored a power-play goal in his Blue Jackets debut Thursday night against the Sabres. He found open ice in the slot and snapped one past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 17:58 of the first period to put Columbus up 2-1.
Check out the goal video:
Charlie Coyle set it up, with Zach Werenski picking up the second assist. Buffalo was shorthanded because Mattias Samuelsson, who opened the scoring at 7:21, went to the box for holding at 17:03.
Knies wasn’t done. Forty-six seconds later, he and Werenski fed Adam Fantilli, who deflected one home to make it 3-1. Cole Sillinger had tied the game earlier in the period.
That gave Knies a goal and an assist in his first 20 minutes as a Blue Jacket, and Columbus carried a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
Plenty of people were watching for this one. The NHL hyped his first game with Columbus on Thursday morning:
Toronto moved Knies on Monday in the six-player Kirill Marchenko trade, getting back Marchenko, Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins. Steven Lorentz, Emil Andrae and a conditional 2027 second-round pick went to Columbus along with him.
The deal landed a few hours before the roster deadline. Knies later called the move a “breath of fresh air” after months of hearing his name in trade rumors.
Columbus is paying the 23-year-old winger $7.75 million a season. He’s coming off a career-high 66 points (23 goals, 43 assists) in 79 games with the Leafs last year.
Knies gets his second game in a Blue Jackets sweater Saturday, when Utah visits Nationwide Arena.
