Avalanche swamp Blue Jackets, 6-1 Rantanen has double in win

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In Denver, Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two points in a 6-1 win for the Avalanche over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

MacKinnon now has an overall active 16-games point, and a 33-game home point streak.

“I love coaching the guy because he brings an intensity and a drive to his game that’s like unmatched in my opinion in the League,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “The streak is a result of all the hard work and dedication that he brings to the game on a nightly basis. There’s not a guy on that bench that didn’t know he hadn’t had a point yet, and then when he got it, everyone was pretty happy.

“And you can see he wants it. Like he’s a little ornery on the bench at the start of the second period when he hadn’t got a point. So that’s the pressure that he puts on himself.”

Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the before completing balling up, yielding six unanswered goals in the loss.

Damon Severson was the lone striker for the Blue Jackets, his goal at 4:28 of the opening first period. He almost fanned on a one-timer off a Johnny Gaudreau cross-crease pass but got just enough of the puck for it to trickle past Georgiev.

“That’s a team that we should aspire to be one day in this locker room,” Severson said. “That’s a top team in the League, if not the best one right now. They have such a good mix of players, good goaltending, first line, fourth line, the defense. They get how to play. They know how to play the right way.”

The Avs replied with a goal from Cale Makar at 11:00 of the first, scoring off a wrist shot for a 1-1 tie.

Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves in the win..

Colorado improved to 45-20-5 off their eighth straight win.

“It’s a long game. You just wish that maybe we start with a goal a little more often than the other team,” Georgiev said after Colorado’s NHL-leading 24th comeback win. “But it’s 60 minutes and it’s a lot of hockey left. We’re confident in our group.”

The Blue Jackets dropped to 23-35-12 off their third straight loss.

“They were way faster than us tonight,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “You can tell why that team is contending for and hoping for a long, long run in the playoffs. That’s a real good hockey team. You’re not allowed to make mistakes, and you’ve got to compete for every single puck.”

In the middle frame,Ross Colton put the Avs up, 2-1 with a strike at 5:43, scoring off a poke in of an errant puck near the crease.

Mikko Rantanen, who hit for a double in the win, picked up his first at 7:07 for a 3-1 advantage to the Avs through the first 40 minutes of the match.

“I think always, with confidence, the game feels a little bit easier, I would say,” Rantanen said. “When you’re fighting the puck a little bit and when you go through cold stretches it feels a little more difficult. I think a lot of guys are feeling good about their game now. I would say everybody. So we’re just trying to ride this streak now and keep it going.”

In the third period, MacKinnon potted his goal for a 4-1 lead at 6:01, scoring off a breakaway.

“It’s at so high a number of games now,” Rantanen said. “I think guys are obviously rooting for him and try to help him keep it going, and hopefully [he’ll] play all the home games this year and score points. We’re trying to help him do that.”

Rantanen collected his double off the power plat at 7:14 to balloon the lead to 5-1.

Valeri Nichushkin added salt to the wound with a marker at 13:38 for the 6-1 final count on the scoreboard.

Elvis Merzlikins made 45 saves in the loss.