MacKinnon gets 3 points, Avalanche hold off Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.

Cale Makar and Valeri Nichushkin each had a goal and an assist, Parker Kelly scored shorthanded, and Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves for the Avalanche (20-15-0), who were coming off a 4-2 win at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Colorado has won six of eight.

"They don't all have to be perfect right now," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We've just got to keep grinding, finding ways to win hockey games."

Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn scored, and John Gibson made 19 saves for the Ducks (12-15-4), who were trying to win three in a row to match their season high.

"We played well defensively and it's frustrating when you don't get at least a point," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said.

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead at 2:40 of the second period when Carlsson tipped in a point shot from Jacob Trouba.

It was Trouba's first point since he was traded to Anaheim from the New York Rangers on Dec. 6.

Colorado forced a turnover in the Anaheim zone while on the penalty kill, creating a 2-on-1 breakaway, and Kelly scored shorthanded to tie it 1-1 at 6:40.

"I thought our (penalty kill) was good, it was just a turnover that ended up costing us a goal there," Cronin said. "It's frustrating."

The Avalanche moved ahead 2-1 at 10:57.

Makar took a wrist shot from the high slot that squeezed between the pads of Gibson and stopped in the crease. Nichushkin was in position to swipe the puck into the net for his 10th goal of the season.

"I liked that we came around after the first period," Bednar said. "They outplayed us in the first period, outchanced us, looked like the quicker team, more desperate team."

Makar scored his 10th of the season with a wrist shot from the right circle off a feed from MacKinnon while on a power play, extending the lead to 3-1 at 3:30 of the third.

"They're linked up together, mentally, so they're able to read two or three seconds in advance," Cronin said of MacKinnon and Makar. "That's why they have a bunch of points and they're All-Stars."

The Ducks cut it to 3-2 at 13:05 when a backhanded centering pass by Pavel Mintyukov went off the leg of Killorn and was redirected into the net.

Samuel Girard was awarded a penalty shot at 14:36 after he was hooked from behind by Jackson LaCombe on a breakaway, but Gibson made the save.

MacKinnon scored into the empty net with 1:19 left for the 4-2 final.

MacKinnon leads the NHL with 55 points (14 goals, 41 assists).

The Ducks went 0-for-5 on the power play, the last opportunity coming with 3:53 remaining in the game.

"We’ve got to find ways to score," Killorn said of the power play. "Whether it’s just getting more shots from the top, which can create more, but it can’t be a momentum killer for us. Even if we don’t score, we have to try and gain some momentum on it."

Anaheim came out quicker than Colorado, outshooting the Avalanche 12-5 in the scoreless first period.

"Sometimes it's going to take 20 minutes on the road in the second game of a back-to-back for the boys to wake up," Wedgewood said. "We have a standard and the first period wasn't it."

After spending 27 of the past 35 days on the road, the Avalanche are looking forward to playing five of their next six in Denver.

"It's nice to go home now, play a little bit more home games from now on," Mikko Rantanen said. "We've been on the road a lot the last month."

NOTES: Colorado improved to 13-1-1 in its past 15 games against Anaheim. ... The Avalanche have nine comeback wins in their past 21 games. ... Colorado is 9 for 9 on the penalty kill in the past two games. ... Rantanen had two assists to increase his point streak to eight games (four goals, 11 assists). ... Colorado’s defensemen have combined for 91 points (16 goals, 75 assists) to lead the NHL. ... Avalanche forward Jere Innala had two blocked shots and three hits in 7:09 of his NHL debut.