Stastny had two assists to extend his point-scoring streak to 17 games, tying an NHL record for rookies and helping his desperate Colorado Avalanche defeat the listless Sabres 3-2 at HSBC Arena on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win and fourth in a row on their road trip.

As for the Sabres, their 10-game unbeaten streak at home came to an end — they had gone 9-0-1 since a loss to Tampa Bay on January 13. The emotional edge they had been playing with in recent games also evaporated, even with the return of co-captain Chris Drury, who won an impressive 13 of 16 faceoffs.

All good things, you know, but don't tell that to Stastny, who assisted on two goals that psychologically crushed the Sabres.

On his first helper, his 42nd of the year, the Avs were shorthanded and down 1-0 in the early going when the hard-working Stastny fed Milan Hejduk in front of the Buffalo net. Hejduk had Ryan Miller down and one-timed the puck over the goaltender's left shoulder two seconds before the halfway mark of the first period to tie the game. The goal came with Scott Parker in the box for retaliating on Patrick Kaleta for a clean, flooring hit on Ben Guite outside the Colorado line. It also wiped out the Sabres' momentum.

His second assist came on a goal 12 seconds into the second period that gave Colorado its first lead of the game. Stastny shot the puck into the Buffalo zone from center ice, leading to a beauty of a hockey schmozzle, Miller retreating to the crease after an ill-fated skate into the dreaded trapezoid and Hejduk filling the void and finding Brett McLean all alone near the bottom of the left circle. Defensemen Dmitri Kalinin and Teppo Numminen could only watch as McLean slipped the puck past Miller for a shocking start to the period and a 2-1 lead for the Avalanche.

One final stick to the heart came 1:41 into the third period, but this time at least Stastny was on the bench. Joe Sakic raced in open space to track down an inviting puck deep in the corner to the right of Miller and threw it into the goal crease for linemate Wojtek Wolski. The native of Zabrze, Poland reached around Kalinin's leg and angled the puck inside the left post to put the Avalanche into a 3-2 lead. It looked as if the puck might have gone off Kalinin's skate, but the official scorer spared him the agony of his 17th goal of the season.

After that, Miller did his part to keep the Sabres in the game, stopping Tyler Arnason with his blocker a minute after the goal, mano a mano, then getting his right pad on Arnason's follow-up backhander officially four seconds later. Miller would go on to sprawl and stop Hedjuk 90 seconds hence and get that same blocker on MacLean's shot on a two-on-one break down the right wing at midperiod.

Miller made 26 saves on the night, while the Sabres recorded just 21 shots on goal, including none in the final eight minutes and change as they feebly pressed to tie the game. Buffalo's best chance came on a power play that started with 9:21 to go when Thomas Vanek took a pass from Derek Roy, who was playing the part of Maxim Afinogenov on the set play. Vanek tried to redirect the puck into the net from the slot but chipped it over the cage instead. Peter Budaj, who got a shutout in Boston 24 hours earlier, then made a fine save on Roy, the Sabres' final shot of the game.

Their second shot of the night went into the net.

Nathan Paetsch scored the sixth goal by a Sabre defenseman in the last six games, and his second of the season, exactly two minutes into the game to put Buffalo up 1-0. Immediately after a faceoff to the left of Budaj, Ian Laperriere challenged Patrick Kaleta to a fight. Number 36 Barnabied him as the puck slid back to Brian Campbell courtesy of centerman Adam Mair, Laperriere's glove going along for the ride. Campbell fed Paetsch near the center point, and the defenseman skated to his left and released a simple wrister that had eyes as it ticked off at least one Colorado player, sailed past Mair in the slot and beat Budaj.

After Vanek flicked the puck off the left post from in tight a few minutes later, you got the feeling the Sabres wouldn't be able to run away from the Avs, who are trying to climb back into the playoff race and were bound to find their legs.

Sure enough, after allowing the shorthanded goal and the goal very early in the second period, the Sabres misplaced their mojo. But they seemed to rediscover it after a singular play by Chris Drury in the 12th minute of the period. The man wearing the C against his former team stepped out of the left-wing corner with determination, barged into the slot and tried to beat Budaj between the legs. Drury couldn't urge the puck through, but the Sabres seemed to get a spark from just their third shot of the period.

Barely a minute later, Daniel Briere danced out of Drury's corner and centered the puck under the arm of Jeff Finger and watched as the puck caromed off the back of the crease-encroaching Pominville's right skate and slid its way home to tie the game at 2. It was Pominville's 27th goal of the season and extended his own point streak to eight games.

It probably didn't impress Stastny, or the Avalanche, who on this night did the Sabres one better.

LGS Postgame Slapshots

Drew Stafford's five-game point streak ended, as did Toni Lydman's modest three-gamer. But with an assist on Daniel Briere's goal, Jochen Hecht extended his to five...

Chris Drury got off to a good start, throwing a check and spinning a hard turnaround shot from 40 feet before the game was 90 seconds old. He ended the game with 18:36 of ice time and three shots on goal but saw his three-game goal-scoring streak end...

The Sabres were outshot 24-11 over the final two periods...

Buffalo allowed its 11th shorthanded goal of the season. Only five teams have given up more. Last season, the Sabres had 17 shorties scored against them, "bested" by just one other team...

One of the biggest cheers of the night came in the first period when the puck got stuck in the mesh and a little kid managed to snag it with a little help from his much taller friend...

It was a night to forget for Teppo Numminen, who inadvertently played the puck on his own goal for the second straight game. The first-period boner sent the Avs to their first significant pressure of the game. Numminen would be on the ice, literally, for the shorthanded goal, and was slow to get back on the shoot-in play that gave Colorado the 2-1 lead early in the second. The aging one went -3 on Wojtek Wolski's goal...

Dainius Zubrus, playing right wing on a line with Drury and Mike Ryan, led the Sabres in both shots and hits (four apiece) but still seems a bit lost in the Sabres' system...