Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and three assists, Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 31 shots, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in Denver on Friday night.
Martin Necas had a goal and two assists, Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews each collected a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and Fedor Svechkov also scored for Colorado, which snapped a two-game skid.
Jake Guentzel scored twice, Charle-Edouard D’Astous added a goal and an assist, Brayden Point had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for Tampa Bay, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Toews gave Colorado the early lead when Necas fed him with a cross-ice pass, and he beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot 1:08 after the opening faceoff. Kadri made it 2-0 on the power play at 5:56 of the first period, taking a pass from T.J. Hughes in the slot and scoring with a snap shot.
The Avalanche extended their lead to 3-0 just 24 seconds into the second period when Svechkov’s pass attempt in front of the net deflected off a sprawling Erik Cernak. Svechkov then tapped the puck out of the air and into the net.
The Lightning got on the board during one of their five power-play opportunities in the second period when Guentzel scored on a rebound at 8:13. Lehkonen made it 4-1 at 13:57, converting a centering pass from MacKinnon.
Tampa Bay answered at the end of another power play when Guentzel stuffed home a pass from Point at 19:17 of the second period. Colorado unsuccessfully challenged the play for a missed stoppage, giving the Lightning another power play.
MacKinnon restored Colorado’s three-goal lead at 4:18 of the third period. He took a pass from Lehkonen in the neutral zone, skated in on Vasilevskiy and buried a shot inside the near post.
D’Astous cut the deficit to 5-3 at 15:13. Vasilevskiy came off for an extra attacker with 2:57 remaining, and Necas scored into the empty net 14 seconds later.
Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor made his season debut, recording three shots in nearly 15 minutes of ice time.
–Field Level Media
