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.
