The Colorado Avalanche returned home after a brief two-game road trip, and defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1, behind a late third period goal by defenseman Francois Beauchemin. Beauchemin’s goal came with 31.7 seconds left in regulation, with overtime seeming inevitable. Instead, the Avalanche skated away with a regulation victory on Wednesday.

The big story for Avalanche fans was Ryan O’Reilly, who was making his return to the Pepsi Center for the first time since he was traded to the Sabres in the offseason. O’Reilly was drafted by the Avalanche in 2009 and played six seasons with the team until he was traded to Buffalo after the 2014-15 season. Regarding Wednesday, O’Reilly picked up one of the assists on Evander Kane’s late 2nd period goal, which gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes. Alex Tanguay tied it up early in the third period, and later provided the lone assist on Beauchemin’s game winner. Beauchemin assisted on Tanguay’s game-tying goal, as did Carl Soderberg.

The Avalanche reached the 50-point mark with the victory on Wednesday, improving to 24-21-3 and 51 points. With the Minnesota Wild losing in regulation in Anaheim, the Avalanche move within one point of the Wild for fourth place in the beastly Central Division. The Avs are 6-4 in the month of January, with four games left in the month as well as before the All-Star Break.

The Avalanche will remain at home to face off against the St. Louis Blues on Friday.

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