In Buffalo, the visiting Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon hit for a double and five points on Thursday night in a 6-4 win over the Sabres. 
“He’s the leader for us every night and drives the bus, and he did it again tonight,” Colorado forward J.T. Compher said. “He doesn’t always get the goals, but it was nice to see him get a few tonight.”
The game was tightly contested all night, and the Avs were not really safely in the win column until Mikko Rantanen hit for empty-net goal with under a minute left in regulation for the 6-4 final.
Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves in the Avs win.
“They have a lot of skill there and they kind of outwaited me and made it tough,” Georgiev said. “A couple backdoor plays. They have some good players, too and you just have to keep going and not think too much about it.”
Compher also hit for a pair of markers for Colorado.
“J.T. had a big night, too,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That line [with Andrew Cogliano and Logan O’Connor] was really good in the checking side of it and helped produce a bunch of offense. They get the big timely goal to give us another cushion.”
The Avs improved to 13-7-1.
Buffalo held a 2-1 lead in the first period.
After Compher put the Avs up, 1-0, in the first, the Sabres replied with goals from JJ Peterka and Tage Thompson.
MacKinnon’s first goal of the night came in the middle frame to tie the game, 2-2, on the power play.
Colorado was 3-for-6 on the power play, and the Sabres hit twice in seven chances.
The Avs took the lead, 3-2, on a strike from Artturi Lehkonen.
“It was a big moment in the game and that was the best our power plays looked all year, in that 45 seconds,” Bednar said. “I mean, we were getting a scoring chance on that every 10 seconds until it went in the net.”
Just past the midway point of the second period, MacKinnon hit for his second goal of the period for a 42 lead to the Avs.
Buffalo replied again to get the Sabres back within one, 4-3, but Compher hit his again to send the game to the third period with the Avs up, 5-3.
“I thought we played really well 5-on-5. We gave them too many opportunities obviously with the penalties we took,” Buffalo forward Alex Tuch said. “I thought we played a full 60 minutes, other than the penalties, and simple mistakes here or there that we just have to shore up because they have a lot of weapons over there.”
Tuch scored in the third to make it tighter down the stretch at 5-4.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves in the Sabres loss.
“I think he’s been unbelievable,” Samuelsson said of Cozens. “He’s so fast and strong and he’s been protecting the puck well. I know he’s only 21, but he looks like a veteran playing with two younger guys. I think he’s really taken the next step and it’s fun to watch. I’m excited for what he has in store.”
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