In Denver, the Avalanche took the Detroit Red Wings out back to the woodshed on Wednesday night in a 7-2 thumping. 
Cale Makar picked up his first career NHL hat trick.
Nathan MacKinnon stretched his home point streak to 31 games with his 40th goal of the season.
“That’s one of the reasons why our team’s finding success. He’s just showing up every single night,” Makar said of MacKinnon. “It’s all you can ask from a guy for that. He’s just playing incredible for us on the road and at home right now.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves in the win.
The Avs moved to 39-20-5.
Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves in the win.
Detroit scored its two goals in the first period when they traded strikes with the Avs for a 2-2 tie coming out of the opening stanza.
Robby Fabbri hit off an early power play for the Wings to give them a 1-0 lead.
Makar potted his first of the night at 5:15, scoring off a wrister from high out at the blue line.
“It was an outstanding game from start to finish from him on both sides of the puck, and he got rewarded for it,” Bednar said of Makar, who has four goals in his past two games after going 11 games without one. “I told you it was a blip on the radar for Cale, right? It’s not like he wasn’t getting any chances. His puck play struggled for a couple games. When he got it back, he started producing chances again and helping his linemates and teammates produce chances.”
David Peron replied with a marker at 13:30 for a 2-1 lead to Detroit.
MacKinnon then hit off another power play for a 2-2 tie headed to the middle frame.
“That’s a team that can expose you defensively,” Detroit’s Ben Chiarot said. “Obviously, they did that today. It’s a lot to work on, a lot to correct. We’ve got to get that desperation back that we had. It’s obviously not there right now, and we’ve got to get it back in a hurry.”
Detroit dropped to 33-23-6 off their third straight loss.
“Overmatched and overwhelmed a little bit tonight,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “I just don’t like how we gave their top guys two easy ones in the second period because they were obviously buzzing tonight. I think that second period got out of hand there.”
From the middle period on, it was all Colorado.
Artturi Lehkonen restored Colorado’s lead, 3-2, at 8:49 of the second.
Makar potted his double at 16:12 for a 4-2 advantage.
“He’s so amazing,” MacKinnon said of Makar. “I think he’s had a lot of opportunities to get hat tricks, for sure. Tough to get hat tricks, you know. I don’t have very many myself.”
Makar collected his hats off another power play at 19:26 for a 5-2 lead headed to the third.
“I’ve never had a hat trick since before junior, and it’s been a long, long time before that,” said Makar, who played his 297th NHL game. “I’ve had a lot of two-goal games, but yeah, it was just a different vibe tonight. It was pretty cool.”
In the third period, Jonathan Drouin ballooned the lead to 6-2 at 7:12, scoring with a shot from the right circle.
Colorado’s Jean-Luc Foudy hit for his first career NHL goal at 15:25 for the 7-2 final count on the scoreboard.
Alex Lyon got the start for the Red Wings, he surrendered five goals while making 35 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission.
James Reimer made 12 saves in a mop up role.
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