The Colorado Avalanche mustered just 11 shots on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner through the first two periods of Thursday’s 2-0 Sabres win at KeyBank Center. Colorado more than doubled their total for the game with 12 in the third, but none of them found the back of the net as the offense-starved Avs dropped their fifth game in a row.
Sam Reinhart scored off a rebound 48 seconds into the second period on a carryover power play, which would prove to be all the scoring the Sabres would need. Evander Kane added an insurance goal with under 4:30 remaining in the third to seal the scoring. Calvin Pickard stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced for Colorado, including several that could have made this game a more lopsided affair.
Lehner was perfect for Buffalo, although his workload was light. Colorado generated only seven shots on goal in the first period and just four in the second. The shutout was Lehner’s fifth of his career. It was the ninth time Colorado failed to score this season. They currently rank last in the NHL in scoring. Colorado’s big three, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon combined for just one shot on goal among them. Defenseman Mark Barberio accounted for more than 25 percent of Colorado’s shot attempts with six on the night.
Colorado concludes its five-game road trip on Friday at Carolina. They will return home for a 6 p.m. puck drop against Tampa Bay on Sunday.
