MacKinnon has 2 goals, assist for Avalanche in win against Predators

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals and had an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche won 5-2 against the Nashville Predators at Ball Arena on Saturday.

MacKinnon leads the NHL with 50 points (13 goals, 37 assists) and has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past three games. He also has 949 career points (348 goals, 601 assists), passing Michel Goulet (946 points) for third in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history.

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, and Mikko Rantanen had three assists for the Avalanche (18-14-0), who have won four of their past five games. Mackenzie Blackwood made 37 saves in his Colorado debut after being acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

“First period was sort of brutal hockey, I felt like, from both teams. Low event. Didn't seem like there was lots going on,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I wasn't in love with our game. Like it wasn't a masterpiece, but we played well enough to get the two points, especially the way [Blackwood] played. He was big part of it.

“I thought we were going to be much better than what we were, but I did talk to a handful of guys and they're just not feeling well. [Logan O'Connor] was puking after the first period, and he played a [heck] of a game, but when you're not feeling well and you're not energized, you're not going to play that great.”

Juuse Saros made 29 saves for the Predators (8-17-6), who have lost nine of their past 10 games.

“Obviously it's heartbreaking in different ways. I thought we played a really good game,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “We looked to our identity that's starting to come. Didn't get the result tonight. Put ourselves in a position. Just a couple mistakes end up in our back of the net, and we didn't make many tonight. Third goal hurt a little bit and kind of hard to overcome that one, but we stayed with it.”

Ross Colton gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with a one-timer from the left net front that went far side at 11:32 of the second period. Casey Mittelstadt outmuscled Adam Wilsby behind the net before passing out front to Colton.

“We were fighting it a little bit in the first, but in the second and third, I thought we kind of dialed it in and were just playing our game,” said Colton. “'Toewser' (Devon Toews) got it up the wall, did a nice job of cycling it down, and then ‘Mitsy', he's really dangerous down there. He's so shifty and crafty. Just kind of got to find a little soft area for him, and he'll get it to you. So just kind of popped in the slot and he fed me a nice pass.”

MacKinnon extended the lead to 2-0 with a snap shot top shelf over the glove of Saros at 18:52. Rantanen forced a turnover from Marc Del Gaizo at his own half-wall and fed MacKinnon on the move.

“I was watching that down there, just going, 'Yeah, I'm thankful that I'm not on that end of it anymore,’” Blackwood said. “I've seen it too many times where there's nothing, nothing, nothing, and then they just have an outpouring of goals. So you know when you play on a team like this, you just have to be patient and they're going to come.”

Lehkonen made it 3-0 at 3:30 of the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle that went bar down.

Steven Stamkos cut the lead to 3-1 at 13:03, finishing a cross-crease pass from Jonathan Marchessault past a diving Blackwood.

“I thought we played pretty well. I know we battled back at the end,” Stamkos said. “We never quit. We got some goals. We got rewarded, but we could have had a lot more. Give their goaltender credit. He played well, but I thought we created enough to win.”

Luke Evangelista made it 3-2 at 15:08 when he cut across the slot and scored on a backhand during a delayed penalty. The play was reviewed because Colton slid into the post and knocked the net off its moorings, but the goal was upheld.

MacKinnon scored into the empty net at 18:08 to make it 4-2, and Lehkonen scored an empty-net goal at 19:10 for the 5-2 final.

“In a year that it's been tough to find some of those moral victories with the way things have gone, tonight's certainly one of those. And we just got to build on that,” Stamkos said. “It’s frustrating when you start to play the game the right way, the way that we want to, and you don't necessarily see the results. But that's the old saying, you just stick with it.”

NOTES: Rantanen extended his point streak to five games (three goals, eight assists). … MacKinnon became the fifth player in franchise history with 90 career three-point games (Joe Sakic, 158 games; Peter Stastny, 128; Goulet, 98; Peter Forsberg, 92). … MacKinnon is the fifth active player and fourth in franchise history to have 10 consecutive 50-point seasons (Sakic, 18; Stastny, 10; Goulet, 10).