In Denver, the Avalanche put together a flawless game in a 5-0 shellacking of the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. 
Nathan MacKinnon had a double and four points on the night to push his home point streak to 30 games.
“Just feel good this year on home ice for whatever reason. Obviously, getting a lot of bounces as well,” MacKinnon said. “I think a lot of guys are playing really well at home, and I’m getting some points.”
Justus Annunen made 37 saves in his second straight shutout.
“The boys were playing awesome in front of me, so it’s all a huge help from them,” Annunen said. “It’s fun to play, and [I’m] getting better every game. So, trying to do my best and earn my spot here.”
The Avalanche improved to 38-20-5.
Colorado opened the scoring with MacKinnon’s first of the game at 12:31 of the opening stanza.
“We’re fortunate because we get to see him every day,” the Avalanche’s Jack Johnson said. “Obviously, his talent and everything is the obvious things, but the stuff that nobody gets to see is his preparation and everything to be at his best every night. Those are the things that we get see behind the scenes and we appreciate.”
Jonathan Drouin stretched the lead to 2-0 at 17:22, scoring off an odd man rush.
“We did some good things tonight, no question,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Some of the things that we talked about this morning within our attack and some O-zone play stuff, I thought we were really good at. I thought they paid attention to it. We got rewarded at least once doing some of the things that we talked about, if not more.”
The Blackhawks dropped to 15-41-5 off their seventh straight loss.
“I thought we played a pretty good first period, but we unfortunately made two mistakes and turned pucks over, and you can’t do it against this team,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “They made us pay, but we still tried to hang in and played pretty much a good solid second. But again, just too much time in the [defensive] zone, and against this team, they’re explosive and they made us pay again.”
In the middle frame, Cale Makar extended the advantage to 3-0 at 12:38, scoring off a shot from high out on the right side.
“Just another goal. Good to get it away,” Makar said. “It’s been a while. It is what it is.”
Zach Parise ballooned the lead to 4-0 at 17:38 of the second.
MacKinnon collected his double off a power play at 15:35 of the third period for the 5-0 final count on the scoreboard.
“It was a game we’re supposed to win. Sometimes those are tough,” MacKinnon said. “A lot of pressure on us, especially after a poor game against Nashville (a 5-1 loss on Saturday). It’s nice to get back in the win column.”
Petr Mrazek made 32 saves in the loss.
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