Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen scored 53 seconds apart in a five-goal second period, and the Colorado Avalanche beat Carolina 6-4 in Denver on Saturday night, ending the Hurricanes’ eight-game winning streak.
MacKinnon added three assists, Lehkonen had one assist, Mikko Rantanen had two goals and an assist and Cale Makar and Sam Malinski also had goals for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev turned away 27 shots for the Avalanche.
Jordan Martinook had two goals and an assist, Martin Necas added a goal and an assist, Jack Drury also scored, Seth Jarvis contributed two assists and Spencer Martin made 23 saves for Carolina.
The Hurricanes had the first nine shots on goal and finally cashed in when Martinook sent a pass from below the goal to Drury out front, and his wrister beat Georgiev high at 9:02.
It was his second of the season.
MacKinnon finally got a shot on goal for the Avalanche with 9:33 left in the first period, and Colorado carried the play early in the second. However, the Hurricanes struck again when Jarvis fed Martinook at the bottom of the left circle, and he scored his third of the season with a shot to the far side at 4:37.
Makar made it 2-1 on the penalty kill when he stole Shayne Gostisbehere’s cross-zone pass, skated in on Martin and beat him with a slap shot at 9:15. It was his sixth of the season.
The Avalanche tied it 1:44 later when Malinski backhanded a rebound past Martin for his first goal of the season, but Necas’ eighth of the season at 12:26 put Carolina ahead 3-2.
Colorado then exploded for three goals in three minutes. MacKinnon tied it with his seventh of the season at 15:49, Lehkonen’s redirection 53 seconds later made it 4-3, and Rantanen tallied on the power play at 18:49.
Martinook’s second of the game and fourth of the season at 2:50 of the third got the Hurricanes within 5-4.
Martin came off for an extra skater with 1:49 left, and Rantanen scored into the empty net at 19:10, his eighth of the season.
–Field Level Media
