Nathan MacKinnon had two assists to reach 1,000 points for his career and the Colorado Avalanche scored twice early in the third period to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 on Monday in Denver.
Scott Wedgewood made 20 saves for his second shutout of the season and the eighth of his career as the Avalanche completed a 6-0-0 homestand.
Martin Necas, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Kiviranta scored.
Spencer Knight turned away 18 shots and 19-year-old defenseman Artyom Levshunov made his NHL debut for Chicago.
The game was scoreless after two periods before Colorado got two quick goals. The first came after MacKinnon dropped a pass to Devon Toews at the point. Toews sent a shot to the net that Lehkonen tipped by Knight 31 seconds into the frame for MacKinnon’s 1,000th point.
The 29-year-old center was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.
The Avalanche struck quickly to expand the lead. MacKinnon got the puck deep, drew two Blackhawks defenders to him and sent a pass to Necas in the slot. Necas’ wrister beat Knight at 3:27.
MacKinnon now has a league-leading 102 points (27 goals, 75 assists) this season.
Kiviranta added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
It appeared MacKinnon reached the milestone when he assisted on Necas’ apparent goal at 7:31 of the first. However, after a lengthy review, the goal was overturned. Later in the period, MacKinnon rang a shot off the post.
Wedgewood kept it scoreless when he made a save on Connor Bedard’s shot while on his back in the crease.
Later in the first, the Avalanche goalie stretched out to make a glove save on Nick Foligno, who tried to slide a backhander inside the post.
Chicago had a great chance to take the lead when Miles Wood and Cale Makar took minor penalties eight seconds apart midway through the second. The Blackhawks weren’t able to generate much on the five-on-three advantage but got another power play later in the period. That was negated when Ryan Donato was called for tripping 40 seconds later.
–Field Level Media
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