Lehner, Sabres shut out struggling Avalanche
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Robin Lehner made 23 saves to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
It was Lehner's second shutout of the season and fifth of his career.
Sam Reinhart and Evander Kane scored for Buffalo (25-23-10), which picked up back-to-back wins for the first time this month.
Calvin Pickard made 30 saves for Colorado (15-38-2), which lost its fifth game in a row. The Avalanche lost 14 of their last 16 games and won only four times in their last 28 contests (4-23-1).
Reinhart opened the scoring with a power-play goal 48 seconds into the second period. After setting a screen in front of the Colorado net, Reinhart collected a rebound off a long shot by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and put it between Pickard's legs for his 13th goal of the season.
Kane made it 2-0 with 4:14 remaining on a spectacular one-man effort. The power forward sped down the right wing before cutting inside, skating past two Colorado players in the process. Kane ripped a hard wrist shot between Pickard's legs for his 19th goal
of the season.
The Sabres held the upper hand for the entire game but missed several opportunities to increase their lead prior to Kane's late goal.
With 11:07 remaining, Kane and Reinhart had a 2-on-1 chance that came up short when Reinhart was unable to corral Kane's pass in time. Pickard eventually gathered the puck.
Defenseman Zach Bogosian and Ryan O'Reilly also had shots go off the post for the Sabres.
Sabres center Derek Grant left the game with a shoulder injury and did not return.
NOTES: D Cody Franson (foot), D Taylor Fedun and LW Nicolas Deslauriers were scratched for the Sabres. ... RW Rene Bourque and D Patrick Wiercioch were scratched for the Avalanche. ... This was the first of two meetings this season. Their second takes place on Feb. 25 in Colorado. ... This was the Sabres' fourth contest in a stretch of eight straight home games against Western Conference opponents. Next up is St. Louis on Saturday, followed by Chicago on Sunday. ... C Mikhail Grigorenko and D Nikita Zadorov are former Sabres first-round picks. They were sent to Colorado in June 2015 in exchange for Ryan O'Reilly.