Valeri Nichushkin's two-goal game leads Avs past Sabres

Field Level Media|published: Thu 14th December, 01:09 2023

Dec 13, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin (13) (center) celebrates his goal in the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at Ball Arena. credits: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals, Mikko Rantanen added a goal and two assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 in Denver on Wednesday night.

Sam Malinski scored his first NHL goal and added an assist, Miles Wood also scored, Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and Ivan Prosvetov turned away 29 shots for Colorado. The Avalanche finished 3-2-0 on a five-game homestand.

Zach Benson scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves for Buffalo, which fell to 2-5-1 in its past eight games.

Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson played his first game in Denver since signing with Buffalo in the offseason. Johnson, who spent 12-plus seasons with the Avalanche, was honored before the game and with a video tribute at the first break in the action.

Colorado took control with three goals in a span of 6:30 in the first period. Rantanen got it going when he took a drop pass from MacKinnon as they entered the Buffalo zone, skated around the back of the net and stuffed the puck by the outstretched stick of Peyton Krebs to make it 1-0 at 5:25.

It was his 14th of the season.

A little more than five minutes later, the Avalanche struck again. Fredrik Olofsson backhanded a shot from behind the net that Luukkonen stopped, but the puck dribbled out in front of the crease and Nichushkin knocked it in at 10:28.

Wood made it 3-0 at 11:55. He skated in on a two-on-one and beat Luukkonen with a shot to the far side for his fifth goal of the season.

Buffalo didn't have a shot on goal until the final 1:25 of the first but made it count. Prosvetov made a save on the first shot, a wrister by Rasmus Dahlin, but the rebound came out and Benson cleaned it up at 18:38.

It was his third goal of the season.

The Avalanche restored the three-goal lead early in the third period when Malinski blasted a one-timer past Luukkonen at 2:40. Nichushkin sealed it with a power-play goal at 13:11, his 12th of the season and 100th of his career.

MacKinnon got an assist on the play for his 800th career point.

—Field Level Media