Avalanche at Sabres
The Colorado Avalanche are a better team away from home and can complete a three-game sweep of their road trip when they meet the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon. Colorado, which owns the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference, is 17-12-0 outside Denver following its 3-2 shootout victory over Detroit on Friday and has its goaltender to thank as Semyon Varlamov made 43 saves after turning aside 26 shots in Thursday's 4-3 victory in Ottawa.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy was originally going to rest Varlamov on Friday, but changed his mind and will likely keep him going against Buffalo as Colorado's next game isn't until Wednesday at home against Montreal. The Avalanche have won 10 straight over the Sabres since Buffalo's 6-4 victory Dec. 4, 2005 while Varlamov rides a six-game winning streak versus the Sabres and is 6-0-1 in seven career games. Buffalo, which snapped a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) with a 6-4 victory over Montreal on Friday, is one of three clubs in the 16-team Eastern Conference considered to be out of Stanley Cup playoff contention. "There's always enjoyment in winning a game," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma told reporters after Buffalo recorded a season high for goals at home this season.
TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), MSG Buffalo
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (29-25-4): Matt Duchene scored his team-best 25th goal Friday and shares the club lead in points at 44 with Nathan MacKinnon. Blake Comeau has goals in two consecutive games for the second time this season and added the shootout winner in the fourth round against Detroit. Carl Soderberg has three assists in his last two games to increase his team-leading total to 30 and is third on the club with 41 points.
ABOUT THE SABRES (22-28-6): Marcus Foligno recorded his first career three-point game with two goals - including a penalty shot - and an assist against Montreal. "I felt really engaged," Foligno told reporters. "I felt that we, and myself, needed an answer after (Thursday's) game (5-1 loss in Philadelphia) and I just felt that as a team we needed to bring it. ..." Ryan O'Reilly leads the team with 17 goals and 30 assists as he squares off against the team with which he scored 90 goals in his first six seasons for the second time after recording an assist in a 2-1 loss on Jan. 20 in his return to Denver.
OVERTIME
1. Buffalo and Colorado had the No. 8 and No. 10 power-play units, respectively, in the NHL entering Saturday's schedule.
2. The Avalanche have won five of their last six road games and are 9-3-0 away from home since Dec. 12.
3. Sabres LW Evander Kane has recorded four goals in his last five games after scoring twice against Montreal to raise his season total to 15.