Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - A pair of players had multi-point games for the Colorado Avalanche in their 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday afternoon at KeyBank Center, led by two goals from Nathan MacKinnon.
MacKinnon opened the scoring just over three minutes into the game with his third goal of the season. Martin Necas made the pass to MacKinnon that allowed the forward to skate on the back hand from one side of the ice to the other to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
Tage Thompson was able to score the equalizer with just over three minutes remaining in the first period.
Rasmus Dahlin was able to keep a puck in at the blue line, and was then able to get the puck to Alex Tuch. Both players assisted on Thompson's first goal of the season.
Both teams finished the opening period tied 1-1. The Sabres outshot Colorado, 12-10, in the first 20 minutes, but was 0-for-3 on the power play.
Meanwhile, the Avalanche failed to score on their only special teams opportunity in the first.
A breakdown in defensive coverage allowed Colorado to re-take the lead early in the second period.
Cale Makar received a pass from Valeri Nichushkin in-between the hash marks and scored his first goal of the year. It came less than five minutes into the second period for a 2-1 advantage over the Sabres.
MacKinnon was able to take advantage of extra space on the ice thanks to a 4-on-4 situation with a player in the penalty box for each team, scoring his second goal of the game. His wrist shot beat Alex Lyon to double the Avalance lead to 3-1 with eight minutes remaining in the second period.
The only goal of the third period was negated by a successful offside challenge by the Sabres.
Necas had initially scored, what would have been, the fourth Colorado goal of the game, but Buffalo challenged that the Avalanche were offside and were successful. That kept the score 3-1 in favor of the visitors.
Colorado outshot Buffalo 15-4 in the third period. The Avalanche were credited with 37 total shots on goal in the game, compared to 29 for Buffalo.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 16:30 - Tage Thompson (1) (Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin)
COL: 3:14 - Nathan MacKinnon (3) (Martin Necas, Brent Burns)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
COL: 4:32 - Cale Makar (1) (Valeri Nichushkin); 11:59 - Nathan MacKinnon (4) (Martin Necas, Cale Makar)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
COL: NONE
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Blue Star Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Nathan MacKinnon - COL
2.) Cale Makar - COL
3.) Martin Necas - COL
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What's next:
The Sabres will remain on home ice for the second of three-straight home games, as they welcome the Ottawa Senators for a 7 p.m. faceoff on Wednesday night.
Broadcast coverage on the flagship home of the Sabres Radio Network begins at 6 p.m. on WGR Sports Radio 550 with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.