MacKinnon, Makar help Avalanche top Red Wings for 5th straight win

DETROIT --Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Cale Makar had three assists to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

"When [MacKinnon] is playing vertical, he can be as dangerous as a bull in a China shop," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "He can work his way through the defense under heavy pressure and still get off those shots.
"It's pretty cool."

Makar has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in an eight-game point streak.
"That's a very special team because of their high-end players," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "When you see what they are capable of doing when they've got a healthy lineup, you know they have a chance to win another Stanley Cup."
Mikko Rantanen scored his 46th goal of the season and Alexandar Georgiev made 33 saves for the Avalanche (40-22-6), who have won five consecutive games. The defending Stanley Cup champions are tied with the Minnesota Wild for second in the Central Division with a game in hand, three points behind the Dallas Stars for first.
"Maybe it is helping us to be together on the road," Georgiev said after a 4-0-0 road trip. "We're playing good and finding ways to keep the puck in the offensive zone."

Pius Suter scored for Detroit (30-29-9), which is 2-8-1 in its past nine games. Ville Husso allowed five goals on 21 shots before being replaced by Magnus Hellberg midway through the third period. Hellberg made two saves.
"Ville wasn't sharp, and there wasn't any reason to leave him out there once it got out of hand," Lalonde said. "He'll be back out there on Monday."
The Red Wings are nine points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Devon Toews gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 5:01 of the first, beating Husso with a point shot through traffic.
Suter tied it 1-1 at 6:55 when he beat Georgiev from the right face-off circle.

MacKinnon scored his 30th goal to give Colorado a 2-1 lead at 7:24 of the second. He took Denis Malgin's pass at center ice, broke through the defense and put the puck past Husso to become the fifth Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques player with at least five 30-goal seasons, joining Joe Sakic (nine), Peter Stastny (eight), Michel Goulet (eight) and Milan Hejduk (five).
Bowen Byram scored on a 4-on-3 power play to make it 3-1 at 17:37. Lars Eller's short-handed goal at 4:20 of the third put Colorado ahead 4-1, and Rantanen made it 5-1 at 5:16.
"At 3-1, we had a power play in what was still a very winnable game," Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. "But we gave up a shorty and then gave up another goal. We're not good enough to have lapses like that."
Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson, the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, had one shot on goal and was minus-1 in 15:34 of his NHL debut.
"You have to be ready to play every team in the NHL, but this was certainly an interesting way to start," he said. "I felt comfortable out there, but there are still some things I need to clean up."
NOTES:Makar had the 19th three-point game of his NHL career, two more than Tyson Barrie for the Avalanche/Nordiques record among defensemen. Makar has 241 points (64 goals, 177 assists) in 233 NHL games; his average of 1.03 points per game is third among defensemen (minimum 200 games) in League history, trailing Bobby Orr (1.39) and Paul Coffey (1.09) … Detroit has allowed an NHL-high 12 short-handed goals. ... The Avalanche extended their winning streak against the Red Wings to 10 games, tying the longest run against one opponent in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history (Buffalo Sabres, March 7, 2007 to Jan. 20, 2016; Columbus Blue Jackets, Oct. 14, 2000 to Jan. 23, 2003; Pittsburgh Penguins, Oct. 21, 1982 to Oct. 19, 1985).