Avalanche beat Lightning 6-3 as Nathan MacKinnon posts four points

The Colorado Avalanche jumped on the Tampa Bay Lightning early and never let them back in. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and three assists, and Colorado won 6-3 on Friday night at Ball Arena in Denver.

Martin Necas added a goal and two assists, Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews each had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and Fedor Svechkov also scored. Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves. Jake Guentzel scored twice for Tampa Bay, Charle-Edouard D’Astous had a goal and an assist, and Brayden Point added two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves.

“Obviously, a good start tonight. Beat one of the best teams in the League, so that’s always good,” MacKinnon said, per NHL.com.

Avs game: how it unfolded

• First period: Toews opened the scoring at 1:08, finishing a cross-ice pass from Necas into an open net after MacKinnon started the play. Kadri made it 2-0 on the power play at 5:52 with a one-timer off a T.J. Hughes pass, his first goal of the season.
• Second period: Svechkov made it 3-0 just 24 seconds in, batting his own blocked pass out of the air and in. Guentzel answered on the power play at 8:13. Lehkonen restored the three-goal cushion at 13:57, and Guentzel scored again at 19:17 to make it 4-2. Colorado challenged that goal for a missed stoppage, but the call stood.
• Third period: MacKinnon beat Vasilevskiy short side at 4:18 after Lehkonen sprung him in the neutral zone. D’Astous cut it to 5-3 at 15:13, and Necas sealed it with an empty-net goal at 17:19.

Scoring leaders

What the coaches said

Colorado coach Jared Bednar called it “probably our most complete effort of the year,” noting his team killed a long string of penalties in the second period. “I thought the power play was outstanding tonight,” he added, per the Avalanche team site.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper pointed to the slow start. “You go down 2-0 five minutes into the game, now you’re chasing it,” he said, per NHL.com. He also noted that Tampa Bay had nearly 80 shot attempts, but 45 were blocked or missed the net. “That’s an issue.”

Milestones and notes

• MacKinnon recorded his 45th career three-assist game, tying Joe Sakic for third in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, according to NHL.com. Only Peter Stastny (47) and Peter Forsberg (46) have more.
• The Avalanche team site reported that MacKinnon became the fourth-fastest active player to reach 1,300 combined regular-season and playoff points, doing it in 1,069 games.
• Lehkonen extended his point streak to six games.
• Nikita Kucherov stayed one point away from passing Steven Stamkos for sole possession of the Lightning’s all-time points record.
• Logan O’Connor made his season debut for Colorado.

Standings

Colorado improved to 6-4-1 after losing two straight and three of its previous four. Tampa Bay fell to 7-3-0; the Lightning had won three straight and seven of their past eight.

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