J.T. Compher was selected by Buffalo in the second round (No. 35 overall) of the 2013 draft… Avalanche assistant coach Nolan Pratt played his last NHL season with the Sabres in 2007-08… Head coach Jared Bednar played 19 regular-season games for Buffalo's AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, in 1997-98.
HISTORY
The Avs own a 66-60-22 all-time franchise record against the Sabres. Since moving to Denver in 1995, Colorado has gone 22-10-4 against Buffalo, including posting a 10-5-2 mark as the visiting team. Since the 2015-16 campaign, the Avs have gone 8-3-0 against Buffalo and they've won each of the past four meetings and six of the last six matchups between the teams.
ROSTER REPORT
Bowen Byram is still out on personal leave due to lingering concussion issues.
INJURY REPORT
Jacob MacDonald remains out with an upper-body injury he sustained on Dec. 12, but has been present for recent practices. Stefan Matteau is expected to be out for a few more weeks while he rehabs a lower-body injury from October 2021.
SCOUTING THE SABRES
The Buffalo Sabres enter Saturday's game sitting seventh in the Atlantic Division and 27th overall in the League with 40 points so far this season.
The Sabres have lost six straight to the Avs, all in regulation, and have been outscored, 27-9, in those games. Colorado's last two visits to Buffalo, in 2018 and 2020, both resulted in 6-1 victories.
NUMBERS GAME
4
Kuemper is tied for fourth in the league in wins (24), the second-most of his career and three shy of his career-best set during the 2018-19 campaign.
23
Gabriel Landeskog scored his 23rd goal of the season and has tallied four goals in four games since the Avalanche returned from the All-Star Break. Landeskog's goal was his fifth game-winning marker of the season, tied with Nazem Kadri for the team league.
49
Makar has 49 points this season, ranked second among all defensemen and one shy of equaling his career-best set during his rookie campaign in 2019-20.
NOTEBOOK
Cale Makar finished with two assists for his second multi-point game in his last three outings… Nathan Mackinnon will pass Steven Finn on the franchise games played leaderboard and is now 11th all-time… The Avalanche have won a season-high 6 straight road games, tied for the 3rd longest streak in franchise history. Avs are 7-0-1 in their last 8 away from home…
