Avalanche Fall 6-4 at Home to Blue Jackets

The Avalanche dropped their home opener to the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4 on Saturday. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist for Colorado while Miles Wood, Casey Mittelstadt, and Ross Colton each scored a goal.

Zach Werenski opened the scoring to put Columbus ahead 1-0 at 6:38 of the first period when he finished off Yegor Chinakhov’s cross-ice backhand pass at the left doorstep.

Kent Johnson doubled the Blue Jackets’ lead with a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle at 7:45 of the opening frame.

MacKinnon put the Avalanche on the baord with his first goal of the season with a left-circle slap shot on the power play at 19:52 of the period. With the primary assist on the goal, Ivan Ivan recorded his first-career NHL point.

The Avalanche trailed 2-1 heading into the first intermission with a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal.

Adam Fantilli gave Columbus a 3-1 lead at 1:56 of the second period with a left-circle wrist shot off the rush.

Just 15 seconds later, Wood answered with his first goal of the season, scoring off a rebound from the right doorstep at 2:11 of the middle frame.

Mittelstadt evened up the score with his second goal of the season, scoring on the power play at 3:42 of the period from the right doorstep.

Kirill Marchenko gave Columbus a 4-3 lead at 4:33 of the period with a wrist shot from the high slot.

Chinakhov doubled the Blue Jackets’ lead at 9:49 of the frame with a shot from the right doorstep off a low-to-high feed from Sean Monahan.

Columbus took a 5-3 lead into the second intermission while trailing 23-15 in shots on goal.

Colton cut Colorado's deficit in half with his first goal of the season, scoring a one-timer from the slot off a feed from MacKinnon at 18:40 of the third period.

Monahan gave the Jackets a 6-4 lead at 19:48 of the third period with an empty-net goal.

Next up for the Avalanche is a home matchup against the New York Islanders on Monday at 7 p.m. MT on Altitude Sports.