Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist and Nathan MacKinnon added three helpers as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the host Seattle Kraken 5-1 on Monday night, giving coach Jared Bednar his 300th NHL victory.
Ross Colton, Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin also scored and Devon Toews and Tomas Tatar each had two assists for Colorado, which had lost three of its previous four games. Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves.
Brandon Tanev scored for Seattle and Joey Daccord stopped 26 of 31 shots.
Rantanen tied the score at 12:05 of the second following an Avalanche faceoff win in the offensive end. Daccord blocked Toews’ shot from the left point, then MacKinnon’s rebound attempt went off the outside of the left post. Rantanen snuck between Daccord and the post, drew the puck back in front of the goal line and slid it into the net.
Colorado took the lead just over two minutes later, as Colton tallied on the power play at 14:12. Daccord fended off Toews’ shot from the blue line, but Colton was alone out front to sweep the rebound past the goalie before he could recover.
The Avalanche dominated the third period, scoring three times while outshooting Seattle 12-1.
Makar made it 3-1 at 4:14 of the third with a wrist shot from the slot.
Drouin scored his first goal of the season on a wrist shot at 9:09 on a two-on-one rush.
Nichushkin capped the scoring at 16:43 on the power play, redirecting Makar’s point shot.
Tanev, who had been out since suffering a lower-body injury on Opening Night at Vegas, made an immediate impact in the opening period by ringing a shot off the left post for a 1-0 lead.
He opened the scoring at 6:13, backhanding a rebound into the net after Georgiev stopped Vince Dunn’s shot from the left point.
Tanev appeared to add an assist later in the period on a short-handed, two-on-one rush with Alex Wennberg. Tanev fed Wennberg, who twice batted the puck off Georgiev’s right leg pad before lifting a third attempt over the prone goaltender.
Bednar challenged the play for goaltender interference and a video review determined Tanev’s skate came in contact with Georgiev’s left leg pad in the crease and slightly knocked the goalie off-balance, negating the goal that would’ve given the Kraken a 2-0 lead.
–Field Level Media