This time, there was absolutely no third-period letup by the Avalanche, which steamrolled the Buffalo Sabres 7-1 Saturday in the final home game until Feb. 26.
Coach Patrick Roy's team did it without forwards Paul Stastny (ankle) and Alex Tanguay (knee), with five players contributing multiple-point performances: Jamie McGinn (two goals, one assist), Nathan MacKinnon (one goal, two assists), Erik Johnson (three assists), Gabriel Landeskog (two goals) and Ryan O'Reilly (two assists).
But there is some concern about Stastny and Tanguay. Stastny tested his ankle in the warmup and left before it was over. Tanguay didn't even try, and Roy said after the game that it's the same knee he hurt Nov. 2 causing him (along with a hip ailment) to miss 36 games before returning a week ago.
Roy said both players are "day to day," and he said he didn't think Tanguay's injury is anything major, "but I'm not a doctor."
The Avalanche has a four-game trip that begins with back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday in New Jersey and New York against the Rangers. Roy said he'd wait to see how Stastny is before considering calling up a forward from Lake Erie.
"I don't really want to play 11 forwards (back to back), he said. "I'd rather play 12. We'll see what happens with Paulie in the next day or so and we'll make a decision then."
Asked how nice it was to score seven goals without two of the team's top forwards, Roy said: "Hey, we played a good game. It's not because we're missing players or this and that. I think our guys were sharp. We were skating well, I thought we moved the puck well, we were also moving very fast, and that was the key. It was a beauty watching our guys today."
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MacKinnon centered a line with Landeskog and PA Parenteau, who was a healthy scratch the two previous games. The unit combined for three goals, three assists and nine shots.
MacKinnon had a three-point game -- probably the first of many -- and leads all NHL rookies in scoring with 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists) in 54 games. He has three goals and four assists in a four-game point-scoring streak.
"He is a special player," Roy said. "I see huge improvement in his game and it's fun to see."
MacKinnon, who has had three two-goal games, didn't realize he'd set a career high for points in a game.
"Things were going well, our line was clicking," he said. "We did a pretty good job. All three of us bring something different. Landy's one of the best players protecting the puck and PA's a great disher. I tried to back them up with my skating, but everyone on the team pitched in."
MacKinnon set up goals by Tyson Barrie and Landeskog in the first period when the Avalanche took a 3-0 lead, and he scored on a power play at 16:29 of the second to make it 5-1, ripping a shot past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller after taking a drop pass from Johnson.
Roy called MacKinnon's speed and pass to Landeskog for a slam dunk into a half-open net "magic." The goal came on a power play 58 seconds after McGinn tipped in Johnson's shot/pass. MacKinnon raced down right wing and waited until the last possible second before sliding the puck through the slot to Landeskog, who has two goals and five assists in a five-game point-scoring streak.
The Avalanche has had trouble protecting third-period leads lately, but that wasn't the case Saturday. Colorado took a 5-1 lead into the third and added to it on goals by Landeskog and McGinn.
"We didn't want to let them get back in the third period," MacKinnon said. "We wanted to finish them off."
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Parenteau had an assist , one shot on goal, played the point on power plays and logged 16:59 in ice time after being a healthy scratch for two consecutive games.
"It's not a very good feeling when you're out of the lineup," he said. "My legs felt pretty good. I felt really good in the first (period) and I felt our line played a pretty strong game. We were making plays. I'm just glad to be back and it was a big team win. We showed how deep we are and how strong a team we are. We have a lot of firepower up front. MacKinnon was flying and it was fun to play with him. Hopefully I played good enough to stay in the lineup."
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Marc-Andre Cliche scored the first goal of his 49-game NHL career at 6:05 of the second period. After taking a carom off the end boards, Patrick Bordeleau passed through the goalmouth to Cliche, who tucked the puck inside the right post.
"Even when the puck was coming, I was thinking, 'Oh, you can't miss this one,' " said Cliche, who played in one NHL game in six seasons with the Los Angeles Kings organization. The Avalanche claimed him on waivers Sept. 22 and he's spent the season as a fourth-line center and penalty killer.
"Finally it went in and a lot of weight came off my shoulders," he said. "It felt great. I've been thinking about it for a while. The boys, they don't give me a hard time, we joke about it in the locker room. It was a nice feeling coming back to the bench. Everybody was excited for me. That was the best part of the whole thing. I forgot how good it was to score, to be honest with you."
Bordeleau made sure to retrieve the puck for Cliche.
"Everybody was pretty happy for him on the bench," Roy said. "He works hard for us and he's valuable to us. He puts hard work into the PK and blocking shots. It's nice to see someone be rewarded."
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The Avalanche (35-14-5) has won three games in a row, has gone 9-2-1 in the past 12 games and beaten the Sabres seven consecutive times since Dec. 4, 2005. It was the first time the Avalanche scored seven goals in a game since March 6, 2012 against Minnesota.
"We wanted to make sure that we respected that club," Roy said. "It was our last game before the Olympic break in front of our fans and our players wanted to please our fans as well. It was exciting for everybody."
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Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves for his career-high 28th win. He's gone 12-1-1 in his past 14 decisions ... O'Reilly's two assists gave him 101 for his career ... Barrie has tied Johnson for the goal-scoring lead among team defensemen with seven. He has two goals and three assists in a four-game point-scoring streak ... Johnson tied his career best for points in a game with his three assists ... McGinn tied his career high for points in a game (three) and goals (two) in a game.
Cody McLeod fought with Zenon Konopka in the second period, giving him 97 penalty minutes this season and 953 in his career to pass Adam Foote (948) for the most penalty minutes since the team has been in Denver. He's sixth all time in Quebec/Colorado franchise history ... Matt Duchene had an assist and three shots on goal. He has one goal, 15 assists and 60 shots in the past 20 games and remains one shy of 100 goals for his career.