Burakovsky Records New Career High in Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y.--In his first season with the Colorado Avalanche, Andre Burakovsky has found a home in burgundy and blue.
The left wing recorded a career-high four points (one goal, three assists) to help the Avs earn a 6-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday. It was the fifth-straight contest that Burakovsky found the scoresheet, and he has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in that span.
Colorado acquired the forward this past summer from the Washington Capitals and with his four-point game, he has now set a new career high with 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists) so far this season, eclipsing his previous best of 38 in 2015-16.

"I think I have been fitting in pretty good with this team. I like everyone and everyone is good to me, so that helps," said Burakovsky. "Feeling comfortable here, coming to the rink every day, you are looking forward to it and that wasn't something I had in the past. It was not always the best time to go to the rink, but like this year I just want to go see the boys all the time. I think that is one of the reasons and just tonight, I think we aligned a good game.
"We are taking care of our opportunities we got and when we got one, we put it in the back of the net, that doesn't happen too often. Good job by everyone in here. Even though we are up 6-1 I don't think we stopped playing. Just keep going, keep trying to score."

His tally was his 17th of the year, matching his career high from the 2015-16 campaign with Washington. It stood as the game-winning goal, his team-best fifth game-winner of the season.
For the past four contests, Burakovsky has 10 points (four goals, six assists) and has collected multiple points in each outing, his second stretch this year in which he's registered four straight multi-point games (also Nov. 14-21).

Through 48 games this year, the Klagenfurt, Austria, native has 12 multi-point outings, tied for the 11th most through 50 games played in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history.
Burakovsky has been playing on a line with Valeri Nichushkin and Nazem Kadri, a trio that has been consistent ever since it was formed after Joonas Donskoi was injured on Jan. 7.
"I have kind of liked the chemistry of that line and that Kadri line was good again tonight," said head coach Jared Bednar. "They did some good things, probably our best line in the first period and then some other lines caught up to them, but those guys have a little bit of chemistry right now. Along with the fact that we want to be a four-line team and I've liked the [Tyson] Jost-[Matt] Nieto-Donskoi line."

The Burakovsky-Kadri-Nichushkin line combined for nine points in the contest as Kadri also found the back of the net and added a helper while Nichushkin scored and recorded two assists.
Nichushkin's three-point game was his first such performance since the 2015-16 season. He also finished with a plus-4 rating, matching his career high.
"I think we have the keys that we need to have a successful line," said Burakovsky. "We got Val, he is like a horse out there. It is tough to get the puck from him, he is working really hard and making plays and he is having a really good year too. Obviously Naz, making all the plays and is so, so good with the puck and finding open lanes and just give it to us.
"For me, I am just trying to add get speed to our line and making plays. Today it worked out pretty good, and I think we have been building that chemistry for a couple games now and we are not stopping here. We got to keep going."

MORE AVALANCHE NOTES

The Avs are now 15-3-0 in their last 18 meetings with Buffalo. Colorado is also 13-5-3 against the Eastern Conference this season.
The Avalanche scored six or more goals for the ninth time this season. Only the Tampa Bay Lightning (also nine) have scored 6-plus goals in as many contests in 2019-20.
Cale Makar tallied an assist to record his 38th point of the season set a new franchise record for points by a rookie defenseman in a single campaign. Makar surpassed Bruce Bell, who registered 37 points for Quebec in 1984-85.
Samuel Girard notched his second goal of the season and now has 27 points (two goals, 25 assists) this season which matches his previous best set in 2018-19.
Ryan Graves recorded a career-best plus-4 rating. He is now plus-36 this season, tops in the NHL.
Graves (plus-36, first), Ian Cole (plus-26, tied-third) and Valeri Nichushkin (plus-24, tied-fifth) all rank in the top five in the league in plus-minus rating. Nichushkin is tied for first (Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat) for first among all forwards.