MacKinnon, Avalanche stay hot with win against Red Wings

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Devon Toews had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Valeri Nichushkin, Cale Makar and Logan O'Connor also scored, and Jonathan Drouin and Martin Necas each had two assists for the Avalanche (44-25-3), who have won three in a row and are 11-1-1 in their past 13 games. Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves.

Colorado moved to within three points of the Dallas Stars, who have two games in hand, for second place in the Central Division.

“I liked our game. It was a little bit of a slugfest for us tonight. I don't think we had great energy,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn't have the energy that I'd like to see out of our group, but it was a pretty good hockey game.

“You're only going to play as good as your legs allow you to, you know?”

J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist, and Austin Watson scored for the Red Wings (33-32-6), who were coming off a 5-1 win at the Utah Hockey Club on Monday but are 1-3-0 in their past four games. Alex Lyon made 23 saves.

Detroit remained three points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who have one game in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

“With our schedule, we knew what we were up against. I thought we put a pretty good effort in against a real good hockey club, and obviously [it was] not enough,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. "I've been in this building with teams before and playing back-to-backs, and it got pretty ugly quick. Maybe that's why I feel a little bit better about our effort, because I've been on the ugly end of some bad games back-to-back here."

Compher gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 6:00 of the first period. Michael Rasmussen’s centering pass was partially blocked by the stick of Ryan Lindgren, but Compher was still able to receive it and score over the shoulder of Blackwood from the low slot.

“Honestly, we did a lot of good stuff tonight,” Compher said. “Penalty kill needs to be a little bit better, obviously. It's about getting two points, doing good things is not enough. At this point, we need to find ways to win games.”

Makar tied it 1-1 at 6:44 of the first when his wrist shot from the blue line deflected off the back of Moritz Seider and skipped past the leg of Lyon.

“I think we felt like we had our game from the get-go. We get an unfortunate penalty, and they get a goal off of it,” Toews said. “It's going to happen, especially [with] a power play that's so good as theirs. Obviously, we want to stop them, but it's just about creating momentum off of that and not letting that frustrate us, and we were able to get back to our game right away.”

Nichushkin put Colorado in front 2-1 at 12:52, winning a battle for position with Alex DeBrincat and jamming in the rebound of Drouin’s shot at the left post.

“Obviously, Val had a great start to that game. He's playing like we know he always plays,” Drouin said. “I think we're taking advantage of our home ice, and it's a good thing.”

Toews extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 4:39 of the second period. He scored blocker side with a one-timer from above the right circle.

“I think it was pretty good for the most part. We were able to generate some good offense, especially the second half of the second,” Toews said. “It was really good, just generating over and over again, line after line really gaining momentum for our team. We were able get a couple in the second and give us a little cushion.”

MacKinnon scored his own power-play goal to make it 4-1 at 8:34 of the third period. Drouin’s initial shot from the right circle hit Simon Edvinsson and deflected to the left circle, where MacKinnon scored into an open net.

MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 22 games (15 goals, 24 assists), which is tied with Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the longest in the NHL this season.

“Sometimes you make the great play and it doesn't really go in, sometimes you get some of those,” Drouin said. “You're going to get those bounces once in a while, and he didn't miss his spot. He kind of hit top shelf there.”

Watson cut it to 4-2 on a rebound at 16:53, but O’Connor scored into an empty net at 17:56 for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: Nichushkin extended his point streak to six games (four goals, three assists). ... Drouin has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past five games. ... Red Wings goalie Sebastian Cossa was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions on Tuesday with Cam Talbot unavailable to dress.