MacKinnon scores twice, Avalanche top Blues to extend point streak to 13

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals to help the Colorado Avalanche extend their point streak to 13 games with a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena on Friday.

Gabriel Landeskog had two assists, and Jonas Johansson made 25 saves for his first win of the season for Colorado (24-8-4), which is 11-0-2 during its streak.
"Great feeling, big points for us, and personally it was really fun to get the first one in the Avs jersey," said Johansson, who was acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres on March 20.
He made 28 saves in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Arizona Coyotes on March 23 in his Avalanche debut and had lost nine straight decisions (0-7-2) since his first NHL win Feb. 23, 2020, for the Sabres.
David Perron had a goal and an assist, Mike Hoffman scored, and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves for St. Louis (16-14-6), which has lost five games in a row.
"We had some opportunities to put the puck in the net, we just didn't capitalize," Hoffman said. "We had some opportunities on the power play. It's a good hockey club over there and they made it tough for us to even get the puck. They held on to it a lot of the time. If we don't have it, we can't score."

The teams will play again here Saturday.
Brandon Saad gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 3:24 of the first period when he put in the rebound of Nazem Kadri's shot on the power play.
Hoffman tied it 1-1 at 3:50 on the Blues' first shot on goal, shooting inside the right post from in tight after Brayden Schenn passed from behind the net.
"It's a bad goal by me," Johansson said. "It's a mistake, but everyone makes mistakes and we support each other. We know mistakes happen and we managed to get past it."
Johansson made a left-pad save against Hoffman on a breakaway at 6:26 to keep the game tied.
"I'm really happy for Jonas," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "He's been battling for quite some time, he's put some hard work with us just in the past couple weeks sort of trying to refine his game and get sharp again. They score on their first shot, which mentally is not easy, but he came up huge even in the first period. After he gave up that goal on his first shot, he stops a breakaway where we have a big breakdown. Our team will gain confidence in him as he continues to play."
MacKinnon put the Avalanche in front 2-1 at 14:43 when he scored from in front off a Landeskog pass on the power play.
MacKinnon increased the lead to 3-1 at 13:11 of the second period, skating from inside the Colorado blue line and shooting five-hole from low in the right face-off circle.
"I thought we had a little bit of a slow start," MacKinnon said. "We held the lead throughout the game, which is important. Obviously, it's a really good team, they're desperate. But it's great to see [Johansson] get his first win with the Avs, and he looked great tonight."

Perron got St. Louis within 3-2 on a 4-on-3 power play at 17:16, shooting short side from the left circle.
"It was a pretty good hockey game, we took too many penalties tonight," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We gave up the two (power-play) goals. They're stoppable; it shouldn't happen. We've got to defend that better, and [Binnington] has got to defend it better too. It's a pretty good game, it's a close game, we hit three posts tonight, I think. We did a lot of good things, but in the end what matters is the outcome, and we're on the wrong side of it."
NOTES: Blues forward Ivan Barbashev was minus-1 with one blocked shot in 10:10 in his return after missing 18 games with an ankle injury. … The Avalanche point streak is the longest in the NHL this season and the third-longest in their history. They had a 16-game streak (12-0-4) in 2000-01 and a 14-game streak (11-0-3) in 2002-03. … Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury and will be reevaluated Saturday. … MacKinnon has scored 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in the past 12 games. … Landeskog has scored 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in the past 11 games. … Forward Liam O'Brien had one shot on goal and five hits in 7:36 in his Avalanche debut. The 26-year-old signed an NHL contract Wednesday after playing 12 games this season for the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche's American Hockey League affiliate.