At the Final Horn | Thompson nets hat trick as Sabres fall to Avs

Tage Thompson scored his first NHL hat trick, but the Sabres fell 5-3 to the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center on Saturday.
Thompson upped his career-best goal total to 19 in 46 contests. He has 21 points over his last 19 games played.
Jeff Skinner tallied two assists for the Sabres. Dustin Tokarski made 31 saves.
Nathan MacKinnon, J.T. Compher, Nazem Kadri, Alex Newhook, and Mikko Rantanen contributed goals for the Avalanche. Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves.

How it happened

The Avalanche led 3-2 after 20 minutes on goals from MacKinnon, Compher, and Kadri - two of which were scored within one minute of goals from Thompson.
Thompson completed his hat trick to tie the score, 3-3, at 12:54 of the second period. The 6-foot-7 centerman corralled a loose puck in the slot, turned, and beat Kuemper with a quick shot. Tokarski stopped all 11 of the shots he faced in the period, including a lunging stick save on Kadri.
The Avalanche regained the lead at 8:37 of the third period, following a hit that left defenseman Rasmus Dahlin on the ice behind the Colorado net. Newhook buried the winning goal at the opposite end of the ice while Dahlin was getting back to his feet.
Rantanen scored an empty-net goal with 51.5 seconds to play.

Roll the highlight film

Thompson opened the scoring with a shot from the right circle, following a loose puck won along the boards by Skinner:

His next goal came from the slot, once again on a feed from Skinner:

He put the finishing touches on the hat trick with another goal from the slot:

Worth a mention

• Casey Mittelstadt returned from a five-game absence stemming from an upper-body injury. He skated 14:50 and tallied two shots.
• Rasmus Dahlin earned an assist on Thompson's second goal, extending his point streak to five games. He has one goal and four assists in that span.

Up next

The Sabres visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. Coverage on MSG begins at 5:30 p.m. The puck drops at 6.