DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche are reduced to spoilers this season. They played the role well Saturday night to deliver a tough blow to a Buffalo team trying to claw its way into a playoff spot.

Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and an assist, and the Avalanche beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Saturday night.

Blake Comeau had a goal and an assist, Tyson Barrie and Mikhail Grigorenko also scored and Jeremy Smith stopped 34 shots for his first career win.

The 27-year-old Smith, who made his NHL debut on Feb. 14, got the victory in his third start and now has the puck to remember the night.

"I got it right here," he said. That's not going anywhere but my shelf. It feels great, it's been a long time coming, but this first win feels really good."

Marcus Foligno and Evan Rodrigues had goals, and Sam Reinhart also scored in his return after missing two games for Buffalo. Robin Lehner stopped 25 shots for the Sabres, who continued the poor record for teams coming out of the league-mandate five-day rest period. NHL teams are 7-14-4 after their break.

"No matter which way you look at it, five days off, it's tough coming back," Reinhart said. "It's going to take some time settling into the game."

Buffalo failed to gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Sabres had a chance to pass Philadelphia in the wild card and gain points against the New York Islanders as well as Toronto in the Atlantic Division. Buffalo (26-25-10) is five points behind the Maple Leafs and sits 12th in the conference, six behind the Islanders for the second wild card.

"We have 21 (games) left now. We know we have to win 15 of them to get back into this thing, to get to a mark where we may be able to get in the playoffs," Buffalo coach Dan Bylsma said. "This is a missed opportunity in getting those two points."

The players felt the same way and lamented falling down 3-0 to the NHL's last-place team. Buffalo knows it can't afford to let valuable points slip away.

"For sure, especially against a team that's struggling," Dmitry Kulikov said. "No doubt we should have had that game."

The Sabres pulled Lehner for an extra skater with 2:02 remaining and Landeskog scored into the empty net with 39.4 seconds left.

Colorado (17-40-3) got a rare home win with a strong start offensively.

"We knew this was their first game after the bye week, so we wanted to come out and jump on them," Landeskog said. "Even though it got a little too close there and a sweaty (penalty kill) in the third, this one felt good."

Landeskog got Colorado on the board at 2:06 of the first period when he tipped in a shot by Mark Barberio for his 12th goal of the season.

Grigorenko and Barrie scored 1:42 apart later in the period to give Colorado a 3-0 lead.

The Sabres got one back late in the first period when Reinhart scored a power-play goal at 17:11. Foligno made it a one-goal game when he scored at 9:55 of the second.

Comeau gave Colorado a 4-2 lead when he scored on a rebound at 16:07, but Buffalo responded again with Rodrigues' goal at 17:40 of the second.

The Sabres kept pressing but they couldn't get the equalizer. Smith came up with some big saves and Buffalo hit a couple of posts.

"It's special," Landeskog said of Smith's first win. "Maybe right now it's hard to put into perspective, but for him and for myself to be a part of that, for him to get that here on home ice it's very special. I'm sure he's been waiting a long time to get that puck."

NOTES: C Nathan MacKinnon and LW Matt Nieto had two assists apiece for the Avalanche. ... LW Rene Bourque's return after missing 11 games with a head injury sidelined Colorado C Carl Soderberg. Soderberg had played in 228 straight games, the longest on the Avalanche, before being scratched. ... Buffalo C Sam Reinhart scored in his last two games. ... Avalanche LW Mikko Rantanen has at least one point in five of the last seven contests. ... Sabres C Zemgus Girgensons returned after missing seven games with a mid-body injury. ... Avalanche D Erik Johnson had an assist in his first game since Dec. 3.