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NHL Game Summary - Buffalo at Colorado

Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Duchene tallied a goal and two assists to help power the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Tyson Barrie, John Mitchell, Marc-Andre Cliche and Brad Stuart also scored, Jarome Iginla chipped in with three assists and Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves for the Avalanche, who ended a three-game skid.

"I played no different tonight than I have been, but tonight everything clicked," said Duchene. "It was a tough road trip, hopefully, it's not too late for us."

Andrej Meszaros scored twice and Rasmus Ristolainen tallied a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who have dropped five straight games and 12 of their last 13. Anders Lindback gave up two goals on 12 shots and Matt Hackett allowed three goals in relief.

"You hate to have to play for pride now, but that's what we have to do," Meszaros said. "We have to keep playing hard."

Colorado has won its last nine games against Buffalo, with the Sabres last winning in the series on Dec. 4, 2005.

The Avalanche opened the scoring with a pair of goals in a span of 32 seconds during the first period.

Cody McLeod slipped a pass from behind the net to Cliche, who wristed a shot past Lindback from the slot at 10:47 and Mitchell deflected in Duchene's centering pass from the right side at 11:19 for a 2-0 lead.

In the middle stanza, Barrie made it a 3-0 game after taking a slick no-look backhand pass from and roofing a wrister over Hackett 3:29 into the frame. Duchene added to the lead with a wrister from the high slot three minutes later.

Meszaros got the Sabres on the board 3:09 into the third with a backhander and after Stuart responded for Colorado 1:39 later, the Sabres defenseman potted his second of the night with a slap shot at 5:29 for a 5-2 game.

Ristolainen pulled the Sabres within 5-3 at 8:43 as he followed up his initial shot and wristed the puck past Varlamov.

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