Burakovsky's first NHL hat trick powers Avalanche past Panthers

DENVER -- Andre Burakovsky scored his first NHL hat trick for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-2 win against the Florida Panthers at Ball Arena on Sunday.

"Obviously, it felt great getting my first one," Burakovsky said. "It's nice to finally get one. I'm just happy to be producing for the team and helping the team win games. Today was a lucky day for me. If I get a chance to shoot it or make a play, I'm doing it. I'm just trying to play the right game."

Mikko Rantanen had three assists, Nathan MacKinnon had two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves for Colorado (16-7-2), which is 5-0-1 in its past six games. The Avalanche scored seven goals in each of their three previous games.
"We can't count on scoring seven goals every game," Kuemper said. "These close, competitive games are a little more fun, especially from my end to play in. That was a really good game of hockey tonight on both sides. It was just a lot of fun to play in."
Joe Thornton and Brandon Montour scored, Carter Verhaeghe had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for Florida (18-5-4), which had a five-game point streak end (4-0-1).
"It's a real fun place to play and they're a real good team, so it was a good little challenge for us," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "I don't think we were particularly sharp with the puck. We managed it fine, and we battled, I just didn't think we were strong enough on the puck in the offensive zone to really sustain a lot of offense."
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead on Burakovsky's power-play goal with 23 seconds remaining in the second period. Rantanen passed across to Burakovsky at the left hash marks for a shot over Bobrovsky's right shoulder.
Burakovsky made it 2-0 at 2:03 of the third period with a backhand short side from the slot after receiving a pass from Rantanen on the rush.
The Panthers cut it to 2-1 at 7:41 with a power-play goal by Thornton, who converted Verhaeghe's cross-ice pass from the base of the right circle.
The goal was Thornton's 1,534th career point (428 goals, 1,106 assists), moving him past Mark Recchi for 12th in NHL history.
"It's great, but you want to win those games to really celebrate," Thornton said of the milestone. "We pushed hard the last 10 minutes of the third, we really pushed back. We won pretty much every 50-50 battle. It was good desperation hockey and it could have been a good result, it just wasn't."

Montour tied 2-2 at 10:15 with a shot above the right hash marks, but Burakovsky made it 3-2 at 11:43 from the top of the right circle for his fifth goal in two games.
"He was awesome tonight, skating, shooting," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I mean, he was one guy that was able to get into the interior of the ice and get himself in scoring areas, and he shot the puck. I thought we passed up on some shots as a group."
The Avalanche killed off Rantanen's cross-checking penalty that began with 1:18 remaining, 61 seconds after Bobrovsky went to the bench for a extra skater.
The Panthers had five shots on the power play and nearly scored in the final seconds, but Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson used his stick to sweep the puck from the crease after it got behind Kuemper.
"Those are the type of games you need to win come playoff time," Johnson said. "I was trying to be in the right spot and thankfully I was able to stop it from crossing the line."
Avalanche defenseman Jacob MacDonald was taken off the ice on a stretcher at 2:15 of the second period after a legal hit by Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg. The Avalanche said after the second period that MacDonald was alert, responsive and had full movement, and that he was being evaluated at Ball Arena.
"Just tough to see from probably either team," Johnson said. "It's a fast game out there, you move upwards of 20 miles per hour. It's physical and things move fast. It's an unfortunate play, super scary for Jacob. It's tough, you just never want to see that and hopefully he's OK. I haven't heard anything yet. That's the stuff that makes you sick to your stomach when it happens to any teammate or opponent."
NOTES: Panthers forward Anthony Duclair missed his eighth game with an upper-body injury. … Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov missed his second game in a row and 10th in the past 11 with an upper-body injury. … Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog is expected to miss two weeks after he sustained a lower-body injury Friday against the Detroit Red Wings. … Bednar's win was his 200th with Colorado. … Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri (lower body) missed his second straight game. … Rantanen has eight points (two goals, six assists) in a four-game point streak. … MacKinnon has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in a six-game point streak. … Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz dressed as the backup after being recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League. He sprained his ankle Oct. 5 in a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights after having offseason hip surgery. … Mikhail Maltsev played center on the fourth line after being recalled from the AHL.