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 Defenseman Francois Beauchemin scored with 31.7 seconds left, and
the Colorado Avalanche beat the Sabres 2-1 Wednesday night to spoil
the return of center Ryan O'Reilly.
Left winger Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist, and goaltender
Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots for Colorado (24-21-3).
Beauchemin's shot from the right point went off Sabres defenseman
Mark Pysyk and beat goalie Robin Lehner high for his sixth of the
season. Beauchemin also had an assist on Tanguay's goal.
"Just kind of a hope shot to the net, Robin had it right in his
chest, and I think it caught Mark's glove and deflected right by
him," Buffalo coach Dan Bylsma said.
Beauchemin said he was trying to keep the puck alive in Buffalo's
zone when he got a fortunate bounce.
"It was a nice pass off the wall from Tangs, and I was able to keep
it in," Beauchemin said. "I had a lane at the net, and I just threw
it and it hit something in front. Sometimes that's all you need to
get the goal. That's what we needed to get that win."
Left winger Evander Kane scored, and Lehner finished with 33 saves
for Buffalo (19-24-4). O'Reilly had an assist in his first game
against his former team.
"It was weird. It was different," O'Reilly said. "A different
uniform, a different side of things. It was unfortunate not to win,
but it was nice seeing those guys."
Colorado picked O'Reilly in the second round of the 2009 draft, the
same one in which it selected center Matt Duchene third overall.
O'Reilly had 90 goals and 156 assists in 427 games over six seasons
with the Avalanche, and he was eligible to become an unrestricted
free agent after this season.
When talks on a contract extension stalled last summer, the
Avalanche traded the center, along with left winger Jamie McGinn,
instead of taking the risk of losing him for nothing.
The Avalanche received defenseman Nikita Zadorov and center Mikhail
Grigorenko as well as a second-round pick in the 2015 draft and the
rights to University of Michigan forward J.T. Compher.
Soon after the trade, O'Reilly signed a seven-year, $52.5 million
contract extension that kicks in next season.
All four of the principle parts of the deal were on the ice
Wednesday, and O'Reilly received a smattering of boos from the
Colorado crowd.
"A small boo," he said. "It is what it is."
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O'Reilly nearly scored late in the first period, but his shot hit
the right post. He then got the second assist on Kane's power-play
goal late in the second. Kane spun around in the slot and sent a
shot through Varlamov's legs at 16:38.
It was Kane's 10th of the season.
"They were putting a lot of pressure on us, we had to move it
around, and it went from Ryan to Jack (Eichel) to Evander in the
slot to get our power-play goal," Bylsma said.
After Colorado failed to score on a four-minute power play early in
the third, Tanguay's backhander at 9:23 tied the score at 1-1. It
was his third of the season and his first goal in 27 games.
"It's been quite awhile," he said. "I haven't been on the scoresheet
as much as I would like, but a little before Christmas I started to
play a little bit better. I just can't get in a groove, and
hopefully this will spark me to help the team a little bit more."
Sabres center Sam Reinhart left the game late in the second period
with an upper-body injury, and he didn't return. Bylsma said
Reinhart will be evaluated when the team returns to Buffalo.
NOTES: Colorado D Erik Johnson has resumed skating and is making
progress, coach Patrick Roy said. "He practiced today and looked
good," Roy said Wednesday. "How close he is to playing is another
question. Hopefully he'll play soon." ... Buffalo LW Nicolas
Deslauriers has not played since Jan. 2 because of a lower-body
injury. ... Colorado C Mikhail Grigorenko centered the line with RW
Jarome Iginla and LW Andreas Martinsen after being a healthy scratch
for three games. He replaced C Chris Wagner, who was a healthy
scratch. ... Sabres C Zemgus Girgensons missed his third consecutive
game with an upper-body injury.
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