Five different players score for the Avalanche.
By Joe Yerdon / NHL.com Correspondent
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Colin Wilson had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche held on for a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Sunday night.
Alexander Kerfoot, Tyson Jost, Gabriel Bourque, and Matt Nieto scored, and Jonathan Bernier made 28 saves for the Avalanche (30-21-4) who went 1-2-0 during a three-game road trip.
Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists, and Robin Lehner made 22 saves for the Sabres (16-30-10), who were without center Jack Eichel, who is out indefinitely after sustaining a high-ankle sprain in the first period of their 4-2 win against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Wilson helped give Colorado a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the first period when he set up Kerfoot for his 13th goal on a 2-on-1.
Benoit Pouliot tied it 1-1 at 7:57 with a shorthanded goal.
Nieto scored at 9:19 to make it 2-1 when he scored shorthanded on the breakaway after Rasmus Ristolainen couldn’t hold the puck in the Avalanche zone along the boards.
Wilson extended the lead to 3-1 with his fifth goal of the season and 100th of his career at 1:07 of the second period.
Sabres defenseman Casey Nelson made it 3-2 at 13:15 of the second with his first NHL goal when he picked up his own rebound, skated around the net and his wraparound deflected off Erik Johnson’s leg into the net. Nelson is just the second Sabre whose first NHL goal was a shorthanded tally. Kevin O’Shea was the other Sabre to do it back in 1974 against the Minnesota North Stars.
Tyson Jost made it 4-2 at 3:05 of the third period when he put a rebound off a Tyson Barrie shot past Lehner on a power play.
Gabriel Bourque scored to make it 5-2 after Lehner couldn’t handle a backhand shot from Anton Lindholm, and Bourque put the loose puck past him at 7:03 of the third.
O’Reilly made it 5-3 with a power-play goal at 12:14 of the third period after a set-up from Kyle Okposo.
Evander Kane made it 5-4 at 17:08 of the third when Marco Scandella’s shot from the point hit his skate, and Samuel Girard knocked the puck into his own net.