Buffalo, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Rookie Calvin Pickard made 28 saves to backstop the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Erik Johnson and Cody McLeod scored in the first period for the Avalanche, who have earned at least a point in four straight games (2-0-2). In the third period, Alex Tanguay scored twice and set up John Mitchell for a power-play goal. Jhonas Enroth stopped 18-of-22 shots for Buffalo, which has been outscored 10-2 while dropping its last two on the heels of a four-game winning streak. Johnson joined the rush, gathered a feed from Nathan MacKinnon and fired the puck past Enroths right pad 2:23 into the game. McLeod tapped in Ryan OReillys pass through the legs of Enroth for a short- handed goal at the 7:07 mark of the first. Tanguay took a feed from Jarome Iginla and beat Enroth high on the glove side with a wrist shot at 1:51. He then dished to Mitchell, who buried a shot from the slot at 5:09. Mitchell was back in the lineup after missing seven games with a leg injury. Johan Larsson spoiled Pickards shutout bid with his first NHL goal at 13:27. Larsson was recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League to replace Matt Moulson, who was a late scratch because of an illness. Called (Larsson) up at 10 to five. So he had to rush here. Under those circumstances, he played well, plus he scored his first (NHL) goal, said Sabres coach Ted Nolan. Tanguay scored into an empty net with 26 seconds remaining. Game Notes The Avalanche have won eight straight meetings with the Sabres ... Iginla collected three assists ... Buffalo forward Tyler Ennis played in his 300th career game ... Avalanche forward Patrick Bordeleau made his season debut after recovering from a back injury ... Colorado forward Maxime Talbot picked up his 100th career assist ... The Avalanche wrap up their three-game road trip Sunday in Detroit. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Among the six changes: Drivers are now eligible if they have competed for 30 or more years in NASCAR or turned 55 in the calendar year before nominating day. Previously, drivers were not eligible until they had been retired for three years, so drivers can continue to compete and still reach the hall. Cheap Maple Leafs Jerseys .Hammel pitched inside more and it helped him get into the seventh inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night. http://www.cheapmapleleafsjerseys.com/ . -- Arizona pitcher Bronson Arroyo is expected to miss a week to 10 days because of a back injury. Cheap Maple Leafs Jerseys China .Y. - Lou Williams scored 21 points and the Toronto Raptors beat New York 81-76 on Monday night in the Knicks preseason home opener. Wholesale Maple Leafs Jerseys . JOHNS, N.DENVER -- Paul Pierce scored 18 points and the Brooklyn Nets rebounded from their worst loss more than 10 years by routing the slumping Denver Nuggets 112-89 on Thursday night. Joe Johnson, Marcus Thornton, and Mason Plumlee each added 10 points for the Nets, who snapped a six-game losing streak in Denver. The Nets hadnt won in the Mile High City since a 112-102 victory on Jan. 27, 2007. Randy Foye had 15 points to lead Denver, which has lost four in a row and nine of 10. Brooklyns 7-foot centre Jason Collins, the NBAs first openly gay player appearing in his third game since being signed to a 10-day contract, was given a round of applause from the crowd when he entered the game for the first time with 8:02 left. Collins finished with three points. Before the game, Collins said he planned to meet afterward with the family of Wyoming college student Matthew Shephard, who was tortured and murdered in 1998 because he was gay. Collins wears his No. 98 jersey in Shepards honour, and he said during a pregame news conference that the chance to meet Dennis and Judy Shepard was "one of those cool treats in life." The Nets were coming off a 104-80 loss at Portland the night before, their biggest loss since a 47-point defeat to Memphis on Dec. 13, 2003. But they quickly put that behind them with a runaway win of their own in a game in which they never trailed. Pierce scored 11 points in the third quarter, helping the Nets extend their lead to 38 points. Brooklyn took an 89-56 advantage into the fourth quarter and played reserves for most of the rest of the game.dddddddddddd The offensive struggles by Denver, which was without leading scorer Ty Lawson (left rib fracture) for an eighth consecutive game, were epitomized in the first quarter. The Nuggets were held to a season-low eight points on 3-for-18 shooting from the floor (16.7 per cent) and trailed by as many 31 points in the second quarter before managing to get within 23 at the half. It got bad enough for the Nuggets that the crowd, after seeing Timofey Mozgov and Kenneth Faried both miss dunks in the first quarter, cheered derisively when Mozgov hit a layup early in the second. The Nets took advantage of the Nuggets horrible start to pull out to 59-36 halftime lead. Each of 10 Nets players seeing action to that point scored at least once. Denver ended up with as many turnovers in the first quarter as points. NOTES: The Nuggets were also without F Wilson Chandler, who was held out of the game because of sore right knee. ... The previous low for points in a quarter by the Nuggets was 12, against Oklahoma City on Jan. 9. ... The Nets Shaun Livingston made his 33rd start of the year, the most in a season in his career. ... Brooklyn improved to 4-10 in the second of back to back games. ... Since the beginning of January, the Nets have gone 17-8, fourth-best among Eastern Conference teams in that stretch. ... Denver, historically one of the teams with the strongest home-court advantage, fell to 14-15 at the Pepsi Center this season. ... All 13 Nets playing in the game scored. ' ' '