AVALANCHE 5, SABRES 4 (SO): Jamie McGinn netted his second goal with two seconds to play in regulation and Peter Mueller scored in the second round of the shootout as visiting Colorado won its third straight and fifth in six games.

Rookie Gabriel Landeskog posted his 20th goal and David Jones also tallied for the Avalanche, who moved into sole possession of eighth in the Western Conference after beginning the day in a four-way tie.

Semyon Varlamov improved to 8-0 in shootouts this season by stopping Brad Boyes, captain Jason Pominville and Tyler Ennis.

Rookie Marcus Foligno tallied twice and Drew Stafford and Ennis notched three-point performances for the Sabres, who fell for only the fourth time in 13 games (9-2-2). Buffalo sits three points shy of idle Washington for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

In the waning moments of the third period, Landeskog raced up the wing and wristed a shot on Ryan Miller. Ryan O'Reilly settled the puck and flipped a shot which trickled past the netminder before McGinn alertly tapped it home.

Mueller netted the lone goal of the shootout after his wrist shot sailed under the glove of Miller.

With the game tied at 3-3, Defenseman Alexander Sulzer wired a shot from near the left boards which deflected off the stick of Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick and past Varlamov. Foligno was also in front of the net, prompting the majority of the crowd at First Niagara Center to believe that he recorded his first career hat trick.

GAME NOTEBOOK: McGinn has seven goals in eight contests since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks. ... Colorado has defeated Buffalo five straight times. ... Buffalo's Nathan Gerbe skated in warmups, but was scratched from the contest with an upper body injury. ... Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers served the first contest of his three-game suspension Wednesday. Myers was suspended after driving Montreal center Scott Gomez into the boards Monday.