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 65-60-22 all-time franchise record against the Sabres. Since moving to Denver in 1995, Colorado has gone 21-10-4 against Buffalo, including posting a 10-5-2 mark as the visiting team. Since the 2015-16 campaign, the Avs have gone 7-3-0 against Buffalo and they've won each of the past three meetings and five of the last six matchups between the teams.
ROSTER REPORT
Bowen Byram remains out on personal leave. Dylan Sikura was recalled from the American League Hockey affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.
INJURY REPORT
Nathan MacKinnon is out with a facial fracture and a concussion from the game on Jan. 26, he is expected to be out a for few games. Ryan Murray left the game on Jan. 14 and is still out with an upper-body injury. Darren Helm is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Jacob MacDonald remains out with an upper-body injury he sustained on Dec. 12. 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
Several members of the Buffalo Sabres have tested positive for COVID-19 and are being retested. Starting goalie, Craig Anderson and backup Dustin Tokarski are traveling with the team, but they have yet to be cleared to play, depth goalies Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Malcolm Subban are injured, and recent signee Michael Houser was placed in COVID protocol on Friday.
The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 2.6 goals per game and are scoring on 20 percent of their power play opportunities. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 3.5 goals per game and are killing 75.7 percent of their opponent's power plays.
(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH:Jeff Skinner
Jeff Skinner leads Buffalo with 16 goals including 11 assists. Skinner previously played for the Carolina Hurricanes for eight seasons and was an alternate captain of the Hurricanes from 2016 to 2018.
NUMBERS GAME
18
Cale Makar scored his 18th goal of the season, the fourth-most goals by a defenseman in a season in franchise history and the second-most since the team moved to Denver.
200
Devon Toews skated in his 200th NHL contest.
6
The Avalanche scored six or more goals in a game for the 10th time this season, the most 6+ goal outings of any team in the league. Colorado's 4.14 goals-per-game average ranks first in the NHL in 2021-22.
NOTEBOOK
Tonight is the first of two games at Ball Arena for Colorado before the 2022 NHL All-Star Game…The Avalanche has won four straight road contests - its longest road winning streak of the season - and is 7-1-1 in its last nine games away from Ball Arena…Nazem Kadri passes Jarome Iginla on the franchise points leaderboard and is now 57th all-time… The Avs extend their win streak to nine games…
