Nathan Beaulieu scores the lone goal for Buffalo in the 6-1 defeat.
By Heather Engel / NHL.com Correspondent
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals for the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Tyson Jost, Colin Wilson, Carl Soderberg, and Alexander Kerfoot scored, Mikko Rantanen had three assists and Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves for Colorado.
Nathan Beaulieu scored, and Carter Hutton made 24 saves for the Sabres. Rasmus Dahlin, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, got an assist for his first NHL point.
Jost gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead on the power play at 10:55 of the first period when he redirected Tyson Barrie’s shot from the point. Wilson made it 2-0 at 13:20 after he got a rebound in the slot and beat a screened Hutton from the slot on the power play.
Colorado has scored a power-play goal in each of its first four games for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
Soderberg extended the Avalanche lead to 3-0 at 16:30 with a shot from the left circle off a pass from Gabriel Bourque.
Beaulieu cut it to 3-1 at 17:05 of the second period on a shot from the point that snuck past Varlamov. MacKinnon scored 28 seconds later on a one-timer from the left circle to make it 4-1.
Kerfoot beat Hutton on a breakaway to make it 5-1 at 15:23 of the third period, and MacKinnon scored his second of the game on a breakaway at 17:01 to make it 6-1.
Up next
The Sabres make their first road trip of the season as they make their West Coast swing, starting in Arizona Saturday night to take on the Coyotes. They then travel to Vegas, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Anaheim before returning home on Thursday, Oct. 25 to face Montreal.