Makar scores twice to lift Avalanche past Blue Jackets

DENVER -- Cale Makar scored two goals for the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Pepsi Center on Saturday.

Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist, Tyson Jost had two assists, and Pavel Francouz made 39 saves for the Avalanche (10-5-2), who have won two straight games after going 0-4-1 in their previous five.
"I don't think I really played too well," Makar said. "Both goals, give credit to the guys. It's always awesome when you get involved offensively. I think it's just another dynamic that our team can provide. When everybody's chipping in -- we have such good depth on the back end -- anybody can do it night in and night out."
WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Avalanche highlights]
Emil Bemstrom and Zach Werenski scored, and Joonas Korpisalo made 32 saves for the Blue Jackets (6-8-3), who are 1-5-1 in their past seven games.
"We had scoring chances," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "I thought both teams, it was a bit of a street hockey game with a lot of turnovers by both teams, so both teams generated a lot of offense."
Bemstrom gave Columbus a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:55 of the first period. After Seth Jones' one-timer in the high slot was blocked by Avalanche forward J.T. Compher, the rebound deflected to Bemstrom, who scored past a diving Francouz from the bottom of the left circle.
Samuel Girard tied it 1-1 on the power play at 15:06 with a shot from the high slot that deflected in off the post through traffic.

Werenski made it 2-1 at 19:06 when his shot from the top of the left circle trickled in off Francouz's glove short side.
"We didn't deserve to be losing 2-1," Francouz said. "It was tough, I felt like I owed the team. The guys had my back. They played really good in the second, they scored two goals and we finished strong."

Makar tied it 2-2 at 10:52 of the second period, receiving a pass from Ryan Graves and scoring short side from the right circle.

Makar gave Colorado a 3-2 lead at 16:11. Jost took a pass from Kadri in the neutral zone and skated in on a 2-on-1 before sending a pass past a sliding Dean Kukan to Makar, who scored five-hole on Korpisalo.
"Jost passed and I wasn't expecting it, but it was an unreal pass and when I picked my head up I had the whole net," Makar said. "I panicked a little bit, kind of froze and threw it a little late. I saw the five-hole was wide open and I just put it there."
After stealing the puck from Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kadri skated down the left wing and scored on a shot that deflected off Jones' stick to make it 4-2 at 17:54 of the third period.

"I think it was a big relief just seeing Kadri burying that one at the end, but we were working hard all night," Makar said.
Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno was assessed a charging major and game misconduct at 17:15 of the second period for a high hit in the neutral zone on Avalanche forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who left with an undisclosed injury.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar didn't have an update on Bellemare after the game.
"I actually didn't know I hit him in the head at all," Foligno said. "There was no intent to hit him like that at all. I'm trying to line him up at the time and then he kind of turns back and makes that play. It just happened so fast and I felt sick to my stomach when I saw that I hit him in the head. It's an unfortunate collision, and my main concern is that he's just all right. I got word from their locker room that he's feeling all right, so yeah, it just [stinks]."

They said it

"We're getting the shots, but we're not getting the goals. I like a lot of the things we're doing as a team. Had some breakdowns that we have to clean up, (and) obviously, we need to start scoring some goals." -- Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski
"You need guys to step up and Cale Makar was very good tonight. He steps up in a big way. ... To be honest, I liked our offensive game again, pretty good on the cycle. They had trouble stopping our cycle, we created some good chances in different areas in different ways. On the flip side, we had a tough time stopping their cycle. It was kind of a seesaw battle. We found a way to be opportunistic." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Need to know

Makar has six points (three goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … Avalanche forward Joonas Donskoi played his 300th NHL game. … Werenski's goal was his 42nd in the NHL, moving him past Rostislav Klesla for the most by a defenseman in Blue Jackets history.

What's next

Blue Jackets:At the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN2, RDS, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: At the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, ALT, NHL.TV)