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 The Sabres scored twice in the first 4:42 and chased goaltender
Semyon Varlamov on their way to a 4-1 win over the Colorado
Avalanche.
"The start was huge for us," left winger Marcus Foligno said. "You
couldn't ask for a better start."
Center Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for Buffalo (23-28-6).
Foligno, center Jack Eichel and left winger Evander Kane also scored
for the Sabres, who have won two in a row after a four-game losing
streak.
"That was important," Reinhart said. "One, getting a good start,
getting up early, and then two, playing with that lead."
After falling behind 3-0 after 20 minutes, the Avalanche (29-26-4)
dominated the remainder of play but were unable to stage a comeback.
Colorado outshot Buffalo 24-13 over the final two periods.
Defenseman Erik Johnson scored the lone goal for Colorado. Goalie
Calvin Pickard made 16 saves and allowed one goal after replacing
Varlamov early in the first period.
"It was a tough start but I thought we played well," Colorado head
coach Patrick Roy said. "It's kind of funny because we didn't play
very well against Detroit and we (won) and this afternoon we had a
strong game and we came up short."
Lehner was terrific between the pipes for Buffalo. The goaltender
finished with 34 saves and made several key stops over the final two
periods.
"He was the star tonight for us," O'Reilly said. "He was the reason
why we won."
Eichel opened the scoring in highlight-reel fashion at 4:22. The
rookie standout raced into the Colorado zone with speed and scored
his 17th goal of the season on a hard wrist shot from the middle of
the left circle.
"I just picked it up in the neutral zone, found some speed," Eichel
said. "It seems like I've been missing the net a lot lately. Good
things happen when you hit the goalie."
Kane made it 2-0 1:40 later on a poor goal allowed by Varlamov. Kane
lifted a wrist shot from long range past Varlamov high to the glove
side, and the Avalanche pulled Varlamov from the net after the goal.
Reinhart made it 3-0 with 2:46 remaining in the first on a
deflection in front of the Colorado net. Former Colorado center Ryan
O'Reilly fired a shot from long range and Reinhart redirected the
puck for his 17th goal of the year.
The Avalanche picked up steam in the second as Johnson put Colorado
on the board 3:35 into the period following a nice feed by former
Sabre Mikhail Grigorenko. Grigorenko found Johnson near the net to
his left and Johnson had an easy backhand tap-in to make it 3-1.
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"Had the tip in the open net and it was a great play by him,"
Johnson said. "Wish it could've been a bit of a momentum-turner for
us and get back in the game but it didn't happen."
Colorado had several golden opportunities to close the gap as the
game went on but were repeatedly thwarted by Lehner. Colorado's best
opportunity came late in the third period; following high-sticking
penalties on Buffalo's Zemgus Girgensons and Josh Gorges, the
Avalanche had a four-minute power play at 11:37 that included a
5-on-3 advantage for two minutes.
Buffalo's penalty kill came up big, however. The Sabres blocked
numerous shots and the Avalanche missed the net on several clear
opportunities.
"We did a great job on the penalty kill all night but in that
particular case you've got to come up big with a kill 5-on-4 and
then a big kill 5-on-3, which our guys were exceptional at killing
that off," Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said. "There was a lot of
good, timely stuff from our penalty killers to seal the victory."
Foligno added an empty-net goal with 1:50 remaining.
NOTES: D Mike Weber, D Carlo Colaiacovo and LW Johan Larsson (lower
body) were scratched for the Sabres. ... D Nate Guenin and D Zach
Redmond were scratched for the Avalanche. ... Sabres C Tyler Ennis
(concussion) remains out. He has missed the past 20 games. Sabres
rookie Dan Catenacci also remains out due to a concussion. He was
injured in Buffalo's 4-1 loss to Philadelphia on Feb. 11. ... The
Avalanche won the previous 10 matchups between the two teams.
Lasting longer than 10 years, that was the Sabres' longest drought
against any opponent. ... This was the second and final meeting
between the two teams this season.
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reserved.]
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