Buffalo loses its 4th straight game as the Sabres were outshot 43-18.
By Rick Sadowski / NHL.com Correspondent
DENVER– Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Pepsi Center on Saturday afternoon.
It was the second shutout of the season and eighth in the NHL for Grubauer.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Bourque scored for the Avalanche (30-27-12), who are two points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Colorado, which was playing its first game without forward Gabriel Landeskog who will miss 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury, was 1-3-0 in its previous four games after going 6-1-1 in the previous eight games.
Carter Hutton made 40 saves for the Sabres (30-29-9), who have lost four straight games and are 2-8-2 in their past 12 . They trail the Montreal Canadiens by 10 points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Avalanche outshot the Sabres 43-18 and out-attempted them 76-38.
MacKinnon gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 3:14 of the second period. He gained possession in the neutral zone, was knocked down by Jack Eichel and then skated across the blue line around Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin before scoring.
Rantanen made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 10:13 of the third period, scoring from the right face-off circle.
Bourque increased the lead to 3-0 with an empty-net goal at 18:50 of the third period.
Up next
The Sabres return home Tuesday to the Dallas Stars.