In Denver,Nathan MacKinnon scored in the first period on Saturday to stake the Avalanche to a 1-0 lead over the Calgary Flames.
The goal extended MacJinnon’s point streak to seven games.
Alexander Georgiev made 28 saves, and the Avs downed the Flames, 4-1.
“It’s been fun. Physically, I think we all feel good,” MacKinnon said. “It will be nice when we get some guys back though. I don’t know when, but eventually it’ll be good. We’re definitely playing a lot with 11 forwards, so we could use a twelfth.”
The Avalanche improved to 33-19-5.
“I thought the team was fantastic this weekend. Two really good, solid, complete games on both sides of the puck, so it’s a real nice finish,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That’s what the League requires in order to win at this time of the year.”
Alex Newhook added to the lead in the first to make it 2-0 headed to the middle frame.
“Great traffic going to the net,” Bednar said. “[We] break the goalie’s eyesight. It was a great shot. Yeah, bar in. When you’re getting depth scoring, it’s a difference between playing really tight games or being able to continue to use the whole bench and not cruise to victories, but at least you got a little breathing room at the end of the game.”
Mikko Rantanen pushed the advantage to 3-0 for Colorado when he scored in the middle frame.
It was Rantanen’s fourth straight game with a goal.
“It’s huge. In every team we played, we’re kind of in the battle for a playoff spot. Just crazy,” MacKinnon said. “They’re all waiting for us each time, too, so it wasn’t like they’re on a back to back as well, so it’s been a weird schedule, the whole week off and then another back to back, but we’re hopefully getting a start to our rhythm more here. [We] play more frequently every other day, which is definitely preferable.”
Calgary’s Tyler Toffoli hit off a power play to get the Flames on the board in the second at 3-1.
“Obviously, they had a really good first period against us,” Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. “We had a lot of good chances, so it could have been closer, that’s for sure.”
Colorado iced the win with a third period goal from Denis Malgin.
“I had good speed and I saw three guys in front of me,” Malgin said. “I saw the little opening there. I just moved the puck there and, yeah, then I shot it.”
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Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves in the Calgary loss.
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