Eurolanche

Sabres shut out Avalanche

Robin Lehner made 23 saves, and Sam Reinhart and Evander Kane scored to give the Buffalo Sabres a 2-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center on Thursday. 

Lehner made 12 saves in the third period to get his second shutout of the season and fifth in the NHL. "I kind of started getting bored there in the second a little bit, but it was very nice to see," Lehner said. "It's nice to see we had three, four guys in the middle the whole second period. We were dumping pucks when we didn't have anything, we did a whole lot of things right today. When we play better teams it's obviously going to be a little different, but the same principles and that's what we've got to do." 

The Sabres (25-23-10) won two straight games for the first time since they won three straight from Jan. 20-24. Buffalo is three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. "We need to go back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back," Kane said. "That's where we're at right now in terms of this point in the season. You've got two tough teams coming to our building to cap it off before the break and we have to have both of those games." 

The Avalanche (15-38-2) have lost five straight games and 11 straight on the road. Reinhart gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 48 seconds into the second period with a power-play goal. "For us to stick with it after the first two power plays and not get too frustrated and down on each other, I thought we had a lot of good opportunities and good looks and we were able to stick with it and bury that one in front," Reinhart said.

Kane received a pass from Evan Rodrigues up the right wing side and cut to the middle of the ice where he took a shot that beat Pickard through the five-hole for his 19th goal. Kane has seven goals and five assists in the past 12 games. Pickard made 30 saves. 

Sabres center Derek Grant injured his shoulder in the first period and did not return. Coach Dan Bylsma said he was taken out of the game as a precaution and will have a CT scan Friday to determine the severity of the injury.

-- by Joe Yerdon for NHL.com --