DENVER — Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and an assist, and Jeremy Smith made 34 saves for his first NHL win as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Saturday night.
The lowly Avalanche saw their three-goal lead twice cut down to one but held the Sabres scoreless in the third period for only their second victory in the last 10 games.
Buffalo came back from its bye week and missed a chance to make up ground in the Eastern Conference standings. The Sabres are seven points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division and six back of Boston for the second wild card.
Landeskog, Mikhail Grigorenko and Tyson Barrie scored in the first 14:24 for Colorado, which hadn’t scored three goals in a game since Feb. 7. Blake Comeau added another in the second period and Landeskog scored his second of the game on an empty-net chance with 41 seconds remaining.
Colorado’s rare victory also came with the return of defenceman Erik Johnson, who had been out of the lineup since breaking his leg on Dec. 3. He played 17:35 and had an assist.
Sam Reinhart, Marcus Foligno and Evan Rodrigues scored for Buffalo, which hasn’t won in Denver since Dec. 4, 2005. Robin Lehner stopped 25 shots.
Colorado came out early and took advantage of a sluggish start by Buffalo, which hadn’t played since Sunday.
Landeskog deflected Mark Barberio’s shot from the blue line 2:06 into the first period, then Grigorenko and Barrie added to the lead with goals in a span of 1:42 to make it 3-0.
The Sabres closed the deficit to 3-2 with goals from Reinhart, who missed the last two games before the bye with an illness, and Foligno.
Comeau pushed Colorado’s lead back to 4-2 at 16:07 of the second before Rodrigues answered 1:33 later to again make it a one-goal game.
NOTES: Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Nieto each had two assists for the Avalanche. … Colorado also welcomed back RW Rene Bourque, who missed 11 games with a head injury. . Colorado goalie Calvin Pickard was a late scratch with a stiff neck. . C Zemgus Girgensons, who missed the previous seven games with a mid-body injury for the Sabres, had an assist. . Buffalo recalled Rodrigues and fellow forward Justin Bailey from the minors on Friday.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Conclude their two-game road trip against Arizona on Sunday.
Avalanche: Begin a three-game road swing against Philadelphia on Tuesday.
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