Eric Comrie makes 34 saves, Winnipeg Jets top Buffalo Sabres 4-1

Jets goaltender Eric Comrie (1) keeps his eye on the rebound as Buffalo Sabres forward Josh Doan (91) tries to corral the loose puck in Winnipeg on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods (JOHN WOODS)

WINNIPEG — Eric Comrie made 34 saves and Kyle Connor scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season as the Winnipeg Jets downed the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Friday.

Cole Koepke added his first goal with the Jets to go along with an assist after signing in free agency over the summer.

Tanner Pearson and Gabriel Vilardi, with an empty-netter, also scored for Winnipeg (14-12-1). Connor picked up an assist on Vilardi’s goal for the Jets, who are 2-1-1 over their past four games.

Jason Zucker replied for the Sabres (11-13-4). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 19 shots for Buffalo, which was playing the second contest of a season-long six-game road trip.

The Jets didn’t get their first shot on goal until 4:03 of the first period, but turned up the pressure quickly when Connor used his own rebound to beat Luukkonen at 4:24. It moved the winger out of a tie with Mark Scheifele as the team’s goal leader.

Zucker’s goal came during Buffalo’s second power play of the first when he put the puck past Comrie off his own rebound at 14:44.

Pearson scored the go-ahead goal at 2:22 of the second on a breakaway after a pass from Koepke.

Koepke used a backhand to bury his goal with 1:18 left in the period. The winger played with the Boston Bruins last season and the Tampa Bay Lightning the two previous seasons. Scheifele had a third-period goal disallowed after it was challenged for offside, but Vilardi scored with 34 seconds remaining and Luukkonen on the bench for an extra attack.

Takeaways

Jets: The Jets redeemed themselves after a 5-1 loss to the Sabres on Monday in Buffalo — a blowout that sparked a players-only meeting following the team’s fifth loss in six outings. Connor has scored in four straight and has nine points in his past six outings.

Sabres: Buffalo was coming off a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia, where it gave up three goals in 59 seconds. Zucker has 10 points in his past nine games, including five goals.

Key moment

Pearson broke a 1-1 tie when he went in along on Luukkonen, waited until the goalie came out of the net and put a backhand past him.

Key stat

The Jets got a pair of goals from their fourth line with Koepke and Pearson finding the mark. The team had only registered goals from forwards other than Connor, Scheifele and Vilardi in one of their previous seven games.

Up next

Jets: Play the second game of a back-to-back Saturday night in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Sabres: Visit Calgary on Monday to play the Flames.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press