Avalanche Erase Four-Goal Deficit, Beat Sabres 5-4

A Spectacular Comeback Against the Sabres

The Avalanche beat the Sabres 5-4 at KeyBank Center on Tuesday, notching their seventh come-from-behind win of the season. Nathan MacKinnon scored his eighth and ninth goals of the year while Scott Wedgewood stopped all 22 shots he saw.

With the win, the Avs improve to 14-12-0.

"We definitely got more relentless on the puck," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "And we got stuffer at the point of the puck and started winning some races and battles, and then our game came together."

Tonight's win marked the fourth four-goal comeback in Avalanche history and the second one on the road.

“When we’re in attack mode from behind, it’s tough to contain us," MacKinnon said.

How It Happened

Tage Thompson opened the scoring at 3:22 of the first period off rebound from the bluepaint after Connor Clifton's right-point shot hit the post.

The Sabres doubled their lead at 6:39 of the opening frame when Thompson scored his second of the night with a backhand shot from the bottom of the left circle.

Buffalo took a 3-0 lead at 6:50 of the first when JJ Peterka scored with a right-circle one-timer off Zach Benson's centering feed.

Beck Malenstyn gave the Sabres a 4-0 lead with a backhand shot from the doorstep off the rush at 11:49 of the first. After the goal the Avalanche made a change in net, inserting Wedgewood.

MacKinnon put the Avs on the board via a right-circle wrist shot after he intercepted a Buffalo exit pass at 2:24 of the second period.

Joel Kiviranta cut Colorado's deficit to two goals from the doorstep at 1:19 of the third period via a rebound created by Calvin de Haan's shot off the rush.

At 4:30 of the third, Logan O'Connor's pulled the Avs within a goal with a shot from the bottom of the left, cleaning up a rebound created by Samuel Girard's shot.

"I thought the line that turned it around for us was the Ivan-[Kiviranta-O'Connor] line," Bednar said. "Like they got it started, they followed it up, and it was their work and relentlessness on the puck that really started to spark our bench. They started stringing together some shifts, and everyone else followed."

MacKinnon tied the game with his second of the night with a deflection from the slot off Mikko Rantanen's left-point wrist shot at 7:39.

Artturi Lehkonen gave the Avalanche a 5-4 lead with his fifth of the season at 15:38 of the period with a shot from the doorstep off a rebound.

"The MacKinnon line obviously came up huge in the third period," Bednar said.

With their comeback win, the Avs became the eighth team in the last 25 years to overcome a four-goal deficit and win in regulation.

Next Up

The Avalanche continue their road trip on Thursday in Raleigh when they face the Carolina Hurricanes at 5 p.m. ET on Altitude and Altitude+.