Avalanche at Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres may have to try to match their longest winning streak of the season without their leading scorer when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Jack Eichel, who tops the Sabres in goals (22), assists (31) and points, departed Saturday's 4-2 victory at Boston in the first period with an apparent lower-body injury and did not return.
Scott Wilson scored a goal and set up another against the Bruins as Buffalo posted a fourth straight road victory for the first time since the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign and put itself in position to equal the three-game overall winning streak it recorded from Jan. 22-25. Colorado looks to salvage the finale of its three-game road trip after falling 6-1 in St. Louis on Thursday and 3-1 at Carolina two nights later. Defenseman Tyson Barrie scored the lone goal against the Hurricanes as the Avalanche have lost three straight and six of their last seven away from home (1-5-1). Colorado is in the midst of a stretch during which it plays 13 of 16 contests on the road and has gone 2-5-1 away from home,
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), MSG Buffalo
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (29-21-4): Blake Comeau missed his first game of the season Saturday due to an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. Mikko Rantanen notched an assist against Carolina, giving him four in his last five contests while increasing his career-high total to 34 this campaign. The 21-year-old Finnish right wing ranks second on the team with a personal-best 51 points and is three goals shy of equaling his total of 20 from last season.
ABOUT THE SABRES (16-29-10): Jacob Josefson reached a milestone Saturday as he skated in his 300th NHL game. The 26-year-old Swede has appeared in only 24 contests during his first season with Buffalo and has gone seven games without registering a point. Sam Reinhart notched an assist against Boston, giving him six points during a three-game streak and 14 (four goals) over his last 11 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Avalanche C Colin Wilson is one goal away from 100 in the NHL while LW Matt Nieto needs two points to reach the century mark.
2. Buffalo C Ryan O'Reilly is two points shy of 400 for his career.
3. Colorado G Jonathan Bernier, who is 11-3-1 in his last 15 contests, likely will be in net Sunday.