The Colorado Avalanche won Thursday on the road, 6-4, against the Buffalo Sabres. Here are three takeaways from the game.

Slow start

One significant criticism of this Avalanche team at the quarter-turn of the season? Their tendency for slow starts. It happened again Thursday night with the Sabres leading 2-1 entering the first intermission. Buffalo scored goals from JJ Peterka and Tage Thompson (power play).

J.T. Compher opened the night with a power-play goal; the result of a fortunate puck bounce at the net front. But the Avs didn’t look sharp. Colorado trailed after the first period in four of their losses this season. Yet early struggles didn’t sink the Avalanche in Buffalo.

MacKinnon magic

The Avalanche surged ahead in the second period, 5-3, behind the production of Nathan MacKinnon. He closed the night with five points — two goals and three assists — to lift Colorado out from an early hole. MacKinnon leads the team in points (33) and assists (25) this season.

Thursday’s game flipped midway through the second when Colorado earned a five-on-three advantage. The Avalanche cashed in with two goals only 42 seconds apart from MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen. Then MacKinnon and J.T. Compher each scored their second respective goals of the game.

Penalty fest

Colorado committed seven penalties in a tightly called contest: Josh Manson cross checking, MacKinnon holding, Logan O’Connor holding, Lehkonen roughing, Mikko Rantanen holding, Devon Toews cross checking, Jayson Megna holding and Anton Blidh tripping. It wasn’t pretty hockey.

But the Avalanche penalty kill held steady, for the most part. They killed off five Buffalo power-play chances. One of their two conversions was a five-on-three with Georgiev holding solid — before a Sabres goal (Dylan Cozens) with 16 seconds left. The Avalanche need to play cleaner hockey if they plan on beating more talented opponents.

GAMER BOX

Avalanche 6, Sabres 4

What happened: The Avalanche survived a wild back-and-forth road game where defense seemed optional for both teams.

What went right: Avs goalie Alexandar Georgiev made big stops late to preserve the win. Nathan MacKinnon and J.T. Compher each had two-goal nights. Compher added two assists for a career-high four points. Artturi Lehkonen scored a power-play goal. Mikko Rantanen potted an empty netter. The Avalanche power play went 3-for-6. No Colorado players were injured.

What went wrong: The Sabres scored seven seconds into the third period to give Buffalo hope trailing by one goal. The Avalanche committed seven penalties and allowed two power-play goals, including one during a 5-on-3 opportunity. Colorado’s team defense was especially poor most of the night.

Between the pipes: Georgiev made 24-of-28 saves. Buffalo netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made stops on 28 of Colorado’s 33 total shots on goal.

What’s next: The Avalanche (13-7-1) travel Saturday to face the Boston Bruins.