DENVER — A month for the NHL record books ended Sunday night with a 4-1 Colorado Avalanche victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Colorado went 15-0-1 in January.

It was the Avalanche’s 18th consecutive win at Ball Arena. They’re one home victory away from matching Boston’s run from Nov. 22, 1970 to Feb. 6, 1971, which is fourth-best all-time.

“It’s pretty exceptional once you look at the history of the Avs. They’ve had some pretty good teams. So of course we’re humbled by that,” forward Nazem Kadri said.

“That being said, there’s not really too many complacent guys in the dressing room. I feel like everyone feels that we could still be a little bit better.”

The Avalanche tied the NHL record for victories and points (31) in a single month. Sunday’s game was the last of January, so they ran out of runway to break the record. A disputed call during overtime in Nashville on Jan. 11 had a lasting impact, as it led to the only result other than a win.

On Sunday’s first goal, Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen was seemingly off balance and visibly mid-hop along the boards, but still put an ideal pass in front of Gabriel Landeskog. Landeskog scored his fourth goal in three games 7:49 into the first period.

Kadri settled down a puck flying around the slot and put it in for a 2-1 lead. With an assist, Dylan Sikura earned his first point as a member of the Avalanche. Sikura started on the fourth line but moved up to the second, swapping places with Andre Burakovsky.

The Sabres challenged Kadri’s goal, alleging a hand pass from Alex Newhook.

“I thought for sure it wasn’t counting,” Kadri said with a chuckle.

The goal did count and Buffalo was handed a delay of game penalty. Rantanen got a goal of his own on the ensuing power play. One minute, 48 seconds after Kadri scored, Rantanen blasted a one-time pass from Cale Makar over the glove of Buffalo’s Dustin Tokarski (32 saves).

Valeri Nichushkin, who was called up to the top line with Nathan MacKinnon injured, scored an empty-net goal for the Avalanche (32-8-3).

Logan O’Connor’s first NHL fight was a quick one. Buffalo’s Kyle Okposo came around a shoving circle to get at O’Connor and linesman Travis Toomey tried to keep them apart, then relented. After a few seconds and swings thrown, Okposo tackled O’Connor.

Dylan Cozens tied the game early in the second period and Jeff Skinner nearly gave the Sabres the lead, but Darcy Kuemper (30 saves) recovered in time to snag the shot.

“I got a little bit out of position on it and kind of went into desperation mode,” Kuemper said.

Kuemper won his 12th straight decision at Ball Arena, strengthening his hold on the franchise record. He split the January starts almost evenly with backup goaltender Pavel Francouz — nine and seven, respectively.

“He’s been awesome since he’s been back,” Kuemper said of Francouz.

“He’s seeing the puck really well and it’s nice kind of going back and forth with each other and learning from each other, pushing each other in practice.”

Kadri took sole possession of third place in the league in points (59) for the night.

“Every night, seems like I know exactly what I’m going to get from him, and it’s competitive hockey,” Bednar said.

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