DENVER — Andrew Cogliano and Nathan MacKinnon scored 49 seconds apart to help Colorado pull away in the second period, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 33 shots and the Avalanche cruised to a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.
MacKinnon also had an assist to give him at least a point in all 29 home games this season. It’s the longest home point streak since Mario Lemieux’s 31-game streak in 1995-96.
“He was incredible tonight,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of MacKinnon.
Joel Kiviranta, Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen also had goals as Colorado scored five straight after falling behind 1-0 just 60 seconds into the game.
“Knowing that it’s a big game, it was a chance for us to climb the standings a little,” Georgiev said of playing the Stars. “And we’ll take it one game at a time.”
It was a big night for Cale Makar, who had an assist on MacKinnon’s goal to become the highest-scoring defenseman in franchise history. His 308th career point broke a tie with Tyson Barrie.
The Stars were on the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders. They looked strong early, with Logan Stankoven scoring early before Colorado’s scoring spurt.
Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for Dallas.
The Avalanche provided an early birthday present for Bednar, who turns 52 on Wednesday. The team is 3-0-0 against the Stars this season.
Colorado’s fourth line of Cogliano, Chris Wagner and Kiviranta provided a boost with two goals and two assists. The Avalanche are a league-best 23-6-0 on home ice this season.
“Obviously, they were on a back-to-back, and we wanted to take advantage of that as much as we could,” Cogliano said. “They scored first, we were able to respond pretty quickly, and the, I thought, all parts of our game were good tonight.”
There were goals early and often as the Stars and Avalanche found the net a combined three times in the opening 5:58 of the game. Stankoven’s score a minute into the contest was his second goal in as many games. The Stars have scored in the opening minute five times this season.
Kiviranta tied it up 68 seconds later and Colorado was on its way.
Jani Hakanpaa returned to the lineup after missing the past five games with an upper body injury. The Stars remain without Nils Lundkvist, Tyler Seguin and Evgenii Dadonov. Mason Marchment took a hard fall in the third period behind the Avalanche net when he tripped on a check attempt and went into the boards.
“Considering the back-to-back situation, I thought our guys battled hard and worked hard,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “There were a handful of moments in the game where their speed overwhelmed us.”
Colorado moved closer to getting back forward Valeri Nichushkin, who returned to practice Monday. He has been away since mid-January as he received care from the player assistance program.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com