Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sabres blank Avalanche

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves for his first career shutout as the host Buffalo Sabres handed the Colorado Avalanche their second straight shutout loss, 4-0, on Sunday afternoon.

Luukkonen, playing in his 49th career NHL game and making his 47th start, received a little help from the goalpost midway through the third period when Nathan MacKinnon's backhand shot caromed off it.

JJ Peterka, Casey Mittelstadt, Tyson Jost and Rasmus Dahlin scored and Jeff Skinner had two assists for Buffalo, which snapped a five-game home losing streak to the Avalanche.

Alexandar Georgiev finished with 25 saves for Colorado. The Avalanche began the season with six straight victories before having their NHL-record, 15-game road winning streak snapped with a 4-0 loss at Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Buffalo took a 1-0 lead midway through the first when Peterka scooped up a rebound in the slot and wristed a knuckler under Georgiev's glove for his fourth goal of the season.

Mittelstadt made it 2-0 early in the second period, leading a rush down the left wing on a 3-on-1 break and then firing a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle into the near top corner.

The Sabres extended their lead to 3-0 at the 8:16 mark later in the period on a one-timer by Jost off Alex Tuch's pass for his first goal of the season.

Colorado pulled Georgiev for an extra attacker with 3:30 remaining and Dahlin sealed the win with an empty-netter 22 seconds later to extend his point streak to eight games.

The Avalanche survived a scary moment with 5:58 to go in the second when star defenseman Cale Makar landed awkwardly against the end boards after a shove by Kyle Okposo. No penalty was called on the play.

Makar, whose right knee took the brunt of the hit against the bottom of the boards, eventually skated off the ice under his own power and returned to play in the final period.