Toews has 2 goals, assist for Avalanche in win against Panthers

DENVER -- Devon Toews had two goals and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche scored three straight goals to rally for a 3-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Ball Arena on Monday.

Mikko Rantanen scored to extend his point streak to 14 games (nine goals, 14 assists), and Nathan MacKinnon pushed his to eight games (one goal, 15 assists) with an assist for the Avalanche (25-15-1), who have won seven of their past eight games (7-0-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves.

"I thought we did a great job defending tonight. We did,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought both teams created a fair amount of offense with special teams and 5-on-5 when it's all said and done, but both goalies were good. So it ends up being a real tight, low-scoring game.”

Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers (24-15-2), who have lost two of three. Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves.

“I'm not disappointed with the way we played at all,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I like the way they competed tonight. I got no problem with our game.

“There was good goaltending. Both teams were respectful of the other team’s skill level. So, everybody defended hard tonight.”

Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 15:57. He entered the offensive zone on the rush, played a give-and-go with Anton Lundell, and scored with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle past the glove of Blackwood.

“It was a good battle on the wall there, and I made a play to ‘Lundy' in the middle. He made an awesome pass,” Verhaeghe said. “I think the goalie probably thought he was going to shoot it. 'Lundy's' an awesome player, and he has really good skill like that and [is] really deceptive. So, it was a really good pass. It was a great pass.”

Toews tied it 1-1 when his wrist shot from just inside the blue line hit the crossbar and went in off the backside of Bobrovsky at 18:18 of the second period.

“We have a talented group back there and they're committed to helping on the offensive side of it,” Bednar said of Colorado’s defensemen. “They're all capable of chipping in on the offensive side of it.”

Toews then put Colorado ahead 2-1 at 8:54 of the third period with a wrist shot from the blue line that made its way through a screen in front from Juuso Parssinen.

“Well, we won. We played a better game than we did the other night (2-1 shootout loss against the Montreal Canadiens Saturday) and [got] back to what we want to do for more of a 60-minute effort,” Toews said. “I don't think our guys necessarily care about points back there. It's about contributing offensively and being able to create time and space for our forwards and get them the puck in dangerous areas as well.

“So if we're able to contribute on the score sheets, that's great. But at the end of the day, we're defenders first, and if we're able to help out on the on the offensive side of it, it helps out as well.”

Rantanen scored an empty-net goal for the 3-1 final at 18:03. His 14-game point streak is tied with Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers for the longest active streak in the NHL. It also ties Rantanen’s career-best.

“[He’s] been outstanding and finding a way to capitalize on his chances too. He's been playing hard, the last handful of games especially,” Bednar said of Rantanen. “His competitiveness is skating, and then when he gets in puck-protection mode, that's the way we need him to play. And usually offense follows that.”

NOTES: Rantanen became the third Finnish-born player in NHL history with multiple point streaks of 14 games (Teemu Selanne (3) and Jari Kurri (2)). … MacKinnon extended his assist streak to eight games for the sixth time in his career. Only player Peter Stastny (8) has more in Avalanche/Nordiques history. … Panthers defensemen Nate Schmidt played his 700th NHL game.