Rantanen's hat trick powers Avalanche past Predators

DENVER -- Mikko Rantanen had a hat trick and an assist for the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-2 win against the Nashville Predators at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Cale Makar had three assists, and Jonas Johansson made 26 saves for Colorado (11-6-1), which has won seven of its past eight games without Nathan MacKinnon, who sustained a lower-body injury Nov. 6.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said the goal is for MacKinnon to play Wednesday, when they open a five-game road trip at the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"It (will be) obviously nice to have him back," said Rantanen, who has been centering the top line with Gabriel Landeskog and Logan O'Connor in MacKinnon's absence. "He's one of the best players in the world. That's all I have to say. To get one of the best players back to your team is only going to help us.
"I think it was important for us to get the momentum and now to go on the road with high confidence."
Luke Kunin and Matt Duchene scored, and David Rittich made 29 saves for Nashville (11-9-1), which has lost four its past six.
"They scored two and got up early on the power plays," Predators coach John Hynes said. "They got a lot of momentum from that. I thought we did have some responses in the game, we had some really good looks and some pushes of the play that we weren't able to capitalize and get a key goal at a key time."
Rantanen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 4:41 of the first period when he chipped in a pass from Landeskog near the right post on the power play.
He then made it 2-0 at 17:37 with another power-play goal, scoring short side with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Makar.
Makar has scored 12 points (seven goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak.
"We had a great start, I loved our start," Bednar said. "Right away on our toes, making them work through five guys all over the rink. We were physical, we were getting to the net, our possession game was great. We got two on the power play and I would say we wore them down a little bit."
Kunin cut it to 2-1 at 4:44 of the second period with a deflection of Eeli Tolvanen's shot five-hole on Johansson.
Bowen Byram, who missed the past six games because of concussion protocol, increased the lead to 3-1 at 6:19 on a redirection of Landeskog's backhand pass.
"Just wanted to be sure about everything," Byram said. "I'm happy I took the time. I felt good, so I'm happy to be in the lineup and to get going again.
"I've been feeling really good for at least a week or so. Had a couple practices and tried to stay as sharp as possible."

Valeri Nichushkin made it 4-1 at 6:42 of the third period, scoring five-hole off a pass from Rantanen, who completed the hat trick after getting a loose puck in the high slot to make it 5-1 at 15:12.
Duchene made it 5-2 at 16:28 before Tyson Jost finished a 2-on-1 with Nicolas Aube-Kubel at 18:55 for the 6-2 final.
"We couldn't find a way to win the game, and we've got to find a way to be better and get more wins," Predators forward Mikael Granlund said. "We're going win, lose, win, lose, and we want to be better than that."
NOTES: Rantanen's hat trick was his third in the NHL. ... Bednar didn't have an update on defenseman Ryan Murray, who sustained a lower-body injury in the first period. … Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri had two assists and has 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) in his past 12 games. … Landeskog has six assists in a four-game point streak. … Duchene has scored 13 goals in 21 games this season after scoring six in 34 games last season, and 13 in 66 games in 2019-20. … Granlund's primary assist on Duchene's goal was his 400th point in the NHL.