MacKinnon scores twice, Makar gets 1st to lead Avalanche past Sabres

BUFFALO -- Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Cale Makar had one goal and one assist and Martin Necas had two assists for the Avalanche (3-0-1). Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves.

“I think we got better as the game went on,” MacKinnon said. “Also, they're pretty desperate … and we knew we'd get a good effort from them and they played well. I just thought in the third, we just kind of kept building and we played well in the second half of the game.”

Tage Thompson scored his first goal of the season and Alex Lyon made 34 saves for the Sabres, who were 0-for-3 on the power play and fell to 0-3-0. They have scored a total of two goals through their first three games.

“It’s not good enough, a lot of the areas,” Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “Better start today, worse ending. Not good on the power play, good [penalty kill], goaltending. I mean, we can’t catch a break there. We’ve got to get out of this [nonsense].”

MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 3:14 of the first period, taking a pass from Necas in the right circle, cutting to the left circle and putting a backhand over Lyon’s right pad.

Thompson tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot from high in the zone that beat Wedgewood blocker side at 16:32.

“We had a good first period,” Thompson said. “We were getting pucks to the net, bodies to the net, had a lot of chances. And then they made a push, and I felt like we didn’t have as much extended [offensive] zone time after that where we could really even get to the net, because we didn’t have the puck. Just got to find a way to be better.”

Makar put the Avalanche ahead 2-1 at 4:32 of the second period with his first goal of the season. Valeri Nichushkin intercepted Dahlin’s clearing attempt inside the zone and took it to the net before sending it over to Makar for the tap-in.

“It was kind of like a little bit of a lag moment almost. I didn't think he was going to give that to me because he was kind of in front of me,” Makar said. “So I kind of just slowed up and then slipped that back through and luckily was able to get a stick on it. So, yeah, great pass by him.”

The Avalanche are 35-3-3 all-time when MacKinnon and Makar score in the same game.

With the teams skating 4-on-4, MacKinnon used Sabres defenseman Owen Power as a screen in the left circle and put a wrist shot under Lyon’s right arm to make it 3-1 at 11:59 of the second.

“He's a hungry player right now,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of MacKinnon, who has eight points (four goals, four assists) through four games. “Our team's been focused. We're determined so far this season. And he's a guy that we rely on to provide offense; he knows it. He knows the circumstances we're in in today's game, and creating offense the first part of the game was a little bit of struggle. And he gets his second. Pretty happy for him. He was happy for himself. It's good.”

The Sabres were outshot 15-4 in the third period.

“Obviously going 0-3 to start the season is not where you want to be at all,” Thompson said. “Just got to find a way to get a win here. That’s pretty much all it comes down to.”

Buffalo, which is dealing with injuries to forwards Josh Norris and Zach Benson, and defenseman Michael Kesselring, lost its first three games in regulation last season as well.

“We've got players that need to produce for us, can't make excuses for (it),” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We've got to do the right thing and you’ve got to be able to win games, even with injuries.”

NOTES: MacKinnon has 54 career multigoal games, one shy of tying Milan Hejduk for fourth-most in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history. Joe Sakic is the all-time franchise leader with 99. … The goal was Makar’s 117th of his NHL career in 399 games. Only five other defensemen in NHL history have as many goals through 400 games: Bobby Orr (150), Paul Coffey (148), Denis Potvin (128), Ray Bourque (124) and George Boucher (117). … Necas extended his season-opening point streak to four games, matching his career-high to start a season, set in 2022-23 with the Carolina Hurricanes. … Buffalo was 0-for-3 on the power play and is 0-for-11 to start the season. ... Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson was scratched with an undisclosed injury, which is different from the upper-body injury that sidelined him during training camp. Ruff said after the game he is day to day.