Rantanen has 3 points in Avalanche win against Senators

OTTAWA -- Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche held off the Ottawa Senators for a 5-4 win at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Nathan MacKinnon had three assists, and Cale Makar had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (39-22-6), who have won four in a row and are 5-1-0 in their past six.
Jonas Johansson made 32 saves in his first NHL start since Feb. 29, 2022, as a member of the Florida Panthers. It was his first win since Dec. 2, 2021, with Colorado.
"[Johansson] was good right from the start," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I thought he was really good. He looked sharp. I mean, he made some big saves, and a lot of them he made look easy. ... We had some breakdowns, and they got some seam passes and they've got some dangerous shooters. So, I thought they earned all of those."

Colorado moved within two points of the Minnesota Wild for second place in the Central Division and five points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets for third. Winnipeg lost 3-0 to the Boston Bruins.
"I think we're trending in the right direction again," Rantanen said. "We're getting together as a team, you know? This is the time that we need to do it. Only 15 or so games left, so we've got to really dial it up here."
Tim Stutzle
had three assists, Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Mads Sogaard made 25 saves for the Senators (33-31-4), who have been outscored 21-10 during a four-game losing streak.

Ottawa remained eight points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, who are tied for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh lost 4-2 at the New York Rangers on Thursday.
"It was an emotional night," Senators forward Claude Giroux said. "Obviously, the season is on the line, we played hard, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end there. It's frustrating when you play hard and the result is not there."
Makar gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 2:35 of the first period with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
"The first goal is the biggest goal, for me," Bednar said. "We wanted to make sure that we were energized coming out tonight. Even though it's a back to back for us (2-1 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday), it's their first game back from a [five-game] road trip and we know how difficult that can be."

Valeri Nichushkin made it 2-0 at 5:00 when he tipped in a shot by Makar from the top of the left circle on a power play.
Drake Batherson cut it to 2-1 at 19:33 with a redirection of a shot-pass from Stutzle on a power play before Rantanen restored the two-goal lead at 4:23 of the second period, tipping a MacKinnon slap shot from the point to make it 3-1.
Shane Pinto made it 3-2 at 8:20 when he received a pass by Julien Gauthier from the left boards, skated into the slot on a breakaway and scored low blocker.
Evan Rodrigues responded to make it 4-2 at 15:17 with a wrist shot after receiving a pass from MacKinnon off the rush.
Lars Eller made it 5-2 at 18:09 when he jammed the puck in at the left post for his first goal in nine games with Colorado.
"It's just like, no whistle, and I think everyone kind of stopped playing for a second," Bednar said. "Everyone except Lars. … He's a smart player. He didn't hear a whistle, so he just kind of hung around there for a split second and there was a puck available. He's a wily, veteran guy in a lot of ways. It was nice to see him sort of bang that one home. It was a big moment in the game."
Ottawa challenged the goal, but video review confirmed there was no goaltender interference as Eller was making a play on the loose puck in the crease.
"Disappointing for our guys," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "I thought we worked extremely hard and we got a result that we didn't deserve."

Travis Hamonic made it 5-3 at 2:52 of the third, scoring on a rebound in the crease. Tkachuk tipped in a Stutzle wrist shot on a power play to cut it to 5-4 at 13:18.
Johansson made a sliding right pad save on a rebound attempt from Alex DeBrincat with six seconds remaining to preserve the win.
"They started to bring it to us a little bit in the third, but I thought we defended well," Rodrigues said. "Big face-offs at the end, and a huge save from [Johansson] at the end. We got the two points; that's what we wanted."
NOTES:Rantanen has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak. Makar (three goals, 10 assists) and MacKinnon (five goals, seven assists) each extended point streaks to seven games. … Tkachuk has 69 points (27 goals, 42 assists) in 68 games this season, surpassing his career high of 67 set last season in 79 games.