The Colorado Avalanche have defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 5-1. It was an emotional night with the return of Erik Johnson, but the Avs were able to string together perhaps their strongest performance of the month, and it was a big night for the stars getting back to coming together to dominate a hockey game. Val Nichushkin, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen all secured multi-point outings in the performance.
Before diving into the meat of this game though, we need to talk about Erik Johnson. There’s a good possibility that this was the final time we see The Condor in skates under the lights of Ball Arena, and as someone who doesn’t know the NHL without EJ in it tonight was very bittersweet.