The Colorado Avalanche got through a freewheeling, five-goal first period and past a hat trick from Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson to win, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon.

Sabres fans, enjoying a tight game between the league-best Avalanche and their 16-26-8 home team, were not too pleased with the go-ahead goal. Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson dumped Rasmus Dahlin to the ice behind Colorado’s net. Nine seconds later the puck was at the other end, where end-of-shift straggler Mikko Rantanen found rookie Alex Newhook for the game-winner.

“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time until they started booing me when I was going to the bench,” Newhook said.

The replay cleared that up later, he added.

During the first period, there was barely time to boo between goals. On the Avalanche’s second scoring play, J.T. Compher cruised in after the puck, shoving off Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson. Compher’s backhander popped straight into the air, over a confused Dustin Tokarski (31 saves), landed in the crease and trickled in to make it 2-1.

“Got a nice little lucky bounce there for it to roll in,” Compher said.

Compher got off to a fast start to the season with 5 goals and 4 assists in Colorado’s first nine games. Heading into Buffalo, he’d found the back of the net once in his past 17 outings.

“I liked him a lot. I thought he was really competitive. Looked quicker,” coach Jared Bednar said. “Quickest we’ve seen from him in a while. Engaged right off the bat right from the drop of the puck. I thought he had a really good night.”

This came after Thompson and Nathan MacKinnon traded goals, 45 seconds apart, less than four minutes in. MacKinnon accepted a pass from Devon Toews and slid it under Tokarski.

Cale Makar’s assist on MacKinnon’s goal gave him six in four games and tied his career high in points (50) with 33 games left in the regular season.

Nazem Kadri whipped in his 21st goal of the season before Thompson finished his hat trick at 12:54 of the second period.

On the empty netter, Rantanen escorted the puck all the way down the ice and tapped it in. Players from all four Colorado lines scored.

“It’s nice to see the other guys chip in. I think we need them to, especially down the stretch run,” Bednar said. “We need to be able to rely on all four lines, both sides of the puck, and tonight we got it.

“Big reason why we won.”

Colorado’s Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves. The Avalanche have secured at least one standings point in 18 straight Kuemper decisions.

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