At The Final Horn | Sabres fall 4-1 to Avalanche on the road

The Buffalo Sabres found themselves tied with the surging Colorado Avalanche midway through the second period Sunday night. But an Avalanche goal and a failed challenge on the play that led to another Colorado goal paved the way for the Avs to win their 10th straight game.

Dustin Tokarski, in his first start since November 29, made 32 saves for the Sabres in their 4-1 loss at Ball Arena.
Dylan Cozens scored for Buffalo.
Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin tallied for the Avalanche, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 30 shots.
Colorado is now 15-0-1 in its past 16 games and has won 18 straight home games.
Buffalo's power play finished 0-for-4 and the penalty kill was 3-for-4.

How it happened

Buffalo killed off an early penalty, but the Avalanche still managed to open the scoring.
Landeskog, cruising through the slot, redirected in a behind-the-net pass from Rantanen 7:49 into the contest.
Tokarski stopped 11 of 12 shots after the first 20 minutes of play.
The Sabres tied the game 2:37 into the second when Skinner stole the puck behind the Avalanche net and threw it in front, where Cozens took a whack at it and beat Kuemper for his 11th of the year.
With 8:45 left in the middle frame, Kadri stuck to give Colorado the lead back. Kadri was parked on the doorstep when the puck made its way to him, where he buried it.
Buffalo challenged the play for a hand pass, but after a video review, the Sabres lost the challenge and Colorado went on the power play.
With 12 seconds left on the man advantage, Rantanen fired in a one-timer to make it 3-1.
Colorado had a 5-on-3 for 1:45 midway through the third period and Buffalo was able to kill it off to keep the game a two-goal affair.
Buffalo went on the power play with 3:12 remaining in regulation and kept Tokarski on the bench to make it a 6-on-4 advantage. While the Sabres maintained pressure in the zone, they could not capitalize.
Just after the penalty expired, the Avalanche cleared the puck down the ice and Nichushkin, coming out of the penalty box, scored in an empty net with 1:03 left.

Roll the highlight film

Here's the goal from Cozens:

Worthy of a mention

Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson, who were held out of last night's game due to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, were back in the lineup against Colorado. Tage Thompson did not play due to an injury.
Casey Mittelstadt skated 4:59 in the first period, but was ruled out during the intermission. Mittelstadt has played in only six games this season due to various injuries. The Sabres started the game with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, so Mittelstadt's departure left Buffalo with 10 forwards for the remainder of the game.

Coming up

Buffalo's road trip concludes on Tuesday when the Sabres play the Vegas Golden Knights. Faceoff is at 10 p.m. on ESPN+ and Hulu. A subscription to either streaming service is required to watch. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.