Victor Olofsson's second goal of the game came with 2:16 left in overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres handed the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets a third straight loss, 4-3, on Thursday night.

Back from missing 15 games with a lower-body injury, Olofsson (18 goals) blasted home a Jack Eichel pass in the extra session for the Sabres, who overcame a 2-0 deficit and then blowing a late 3-2 lead to win back-to-back contests for the first time since a three-game run from Jan. 12-16.

Eichel recorded his 32nd goal and assists 40 and 41 for Buffalo, which went ahead 3-2 when Evan Rodrigues ripped one past Blue Jackets netminder Matiss Kivlenieks (23 saves) with 4:26 left in regulation.

However, Columbus tied the game at 3-3 with 1:13 to play in the third when Markus Nutivaara tapped in Oliver Bjorkstrand's shot through traffic with Kivlenieks pulled.

Nathan Gerbe and Boone Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets, who are 0-1-2 following a 9-0-1 stretch.

Columbus was playing without star defenseman Seth Jones and key forward Cam Atkinson, both out for an extended period of time with ankle injuries.

It was a rather quiet first period until Gerbe put Columbus up 1-0 with 28 seconds to play in the opening stanza. With Buffalo goalie Carter Hutton (28 saves) overplaying toward Vladislav Gavrikov on the odd-man rush, Gerbe took a pass from the Russian and drilled it into what was essentially an empty net.

Columbus made it 2-0 just 1:31 into the second period. Jenner recorded his 10th of the season when he tipped in Zach Werenski's blast.

Eichel, though, snapped a five-game goal drought with a wrister past the glove of Kivlenieks with 1:13 left in the second period to make it 2-1. Eichel's previous goal came during overtime of a 2-1 home win over the Blue Jackets on Feb. 1.

Olofsson tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play strike off an Eichel pass at 2:10 into the third period.

--Field Level Media