Rapid Recap: Avalanche 5, Ducks 2

Cale Makar had three assists in the Colorado Avalanche's 5-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday at Ball Arena.
Valeri Nichushkin (goal and assist) and Nathan MacKinnon (two assists) also had multi-point performances in the victory. Philipp Grubauer made 13 saves to pick up his 100th career win. The Avs finished with a 48-15 edge in shots on goal in the outing.
Mikko Rantanen scored for the 12th time this month and his 20th of the year. Tyson Jost, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin also found the back of the net. Logan O'Connor, Ryan Graves and Joonas Donskoi found the scoresheet as well with a helper apiece.

Danton Heinen and Troy Terry scored for the Ducks while goaltender Ryan Miller made 43 stops.
The Avalanche is now 4-1-1 against the Ducks this year. The clubs will meet again to conclude the eight-game season series in Anaheim on April 9-11.

THE GOALS

1st Period
2:56 COL (1-0) - Mikko Rantanen won a faceoff back to Nathan MacKinnon, and MacKinnon found Rantanen cutting into the slot and he scored his 20th goal of the season with a backhand shot.
9:14 ANA (1-1) - Danton Heinen tied the game after getting a backdoor pass from Max Comtois.
2nd Period
3:59 COL (2-1) - Tyson Jost scored his third goal of the year by putting home the rebound from a Ryan Graves shot.
16:20 COL (3-1) - PPG, Cale Makar's shot from the point was deflected by Gabriel Landeskog and into the net.
3rd Period
3:19 ANA (3-2) - Troy Terry forced a turnover and scored on a mini-breakaway
7:26 COL (4-2) - After sustaining pressure in the offensive zone, J.T. Compher scored from below the left circle.
9:30 COL (5-2) - Cale Makar skated the puck into the zone and around the back of the cage before setting up Valeri Nichushkin for his eighth tally of the year.
Final: Avalanche - 5 | Ducks - 2

POWER PLAYS

Colorado:1 for 6
Anaheim: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 13 saves to pick up his 100th career win.
Anaheim:Ryan Miller allowed five goals on 48 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Mikko Rantanen scored for the 12th time this month, the most in the league. His 12 goals in March tie Milan Hejduk (February 2003) for the second most by an Avalanche player in a single month since the franchise moved to Denver in 1995. Joe Sakic holds the record with 15 goals in March 2000.

NOTEBOOK

Philipp Grubauer made 13 saves in the outing to pick up his 100th career win... Nathan MacKinnon had two assists to record his 10th multi-point game of the campaign… Cale Makar had three helpers in the contest, his third three-assist outing of the season… Joonas Donskoi assisted on Valeri Nichushkin's goal to extend his point streak to three games. Donskoi has two goals and one helper in the stretch… Gabriel Landeskog's goal stood as the game-winner, the 35th of his career. It moved him into a tie with Peter Forsberg for the fourth most in Avalanche history... Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Ryan Getzlaf fought at 9:33 of the third period... The Avalanche scored the first goal of the game for the 24th time this season... With the victory, the Avs matched their franchise record for wins in a single month with 11. The team also had 11 wins in a single month in February 2020 (11-3-1), March 2007 (11-1-2) and January 2004 (11-1-2-2)... Colorado's 25 points this month are tied with Pittsburgh for the most in the NHL... The Avalanche extended its point streak to 11 games (9-0-2) and improved to 13-2-3 in its last 18... The Avs have allowed just three power-play goals in the last 11 games (30/33)... The Avalanche is 8-0-1 in its last nine at Ball Arena and is 14-4-2 at home this year. So far on this home stay the team is 2-0-1.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Super Speed

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche mixed up its defensive pairings, putting together Samuel Girard and Devon Toews while Ryan Graves and Cale Makar also formed a duo. The third pairing consisted of Jacob MacDonald and Dan Renouf. Philipp Grubauer started for the 28th time this season, tied for the most in the league.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram missed his second consecutive contest as he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Forward Matt Calvert remains out week-to-week with an upper-body injury while Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Erik Johnson (upper body) are out long term.

UP NEXT

Colorado will have fans in its building for the first time since last March when it hosts frontline workers for its outing against the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday. The first game with ticketed fans will be on Friday when the Avs open a back-to-back set against the St. Louis Blues.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
37 J.T. Compher - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
2 Dan Renouf - 34 Jacob MacDonald
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson