Sabres' Tage Thompson scores five goals vs. Blue Jackets

Tage Thompson has certainly made a name for himself over the past year, but tonight the Buffalo Sabres center may have reached new heights with a five-goal performance.

In Wednesday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tage Thompson showed no mercy with five goals and six points on the night. More impressive was his first period, where he had four goals and five points by the 16:40 mark of the first, and in just 5:14 of ice time and eight shifts. The Sabres went on to win the game 9-4.

Thompson is just the fourth player in the last five seasons to hit the five-goal mark in a game, joining Patrik Laine (when he was with the Winnipeg Jets), New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad and San Jose Sharks winger Timo Meier. The last time an NHL player had six in a game was Darryl Sittler in 1976, when he had his NHL record-setting 10 point game. The all-time record for goals in a game is Joe Malone’s seven goals in 1920 with the Quebec Bulldogs.

Anyone who had doubts about Thompson’s 2021-22 season being legit has been proven wrong thus far, as Thompson has put up 21 goals, 19 assists, and 40 points in 26 games so far this season. He broke out last year with 38 goals, 30 assists, and 68 points in 78 games.

Originally a late first-round pick in 2016 by the St. Louis Blues, Thompson joined the Sabres in the 2018 offseason as part of the return they got in the Ryan O’Reilly trade, along with Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, and a first- and second-round pick. He’s in the final year of a three-year contract with a $1.4 million, but is slated to get paid afterwards when his seven-year contract with a $7,142,857 cap hit kicks in.