Devon Toews had a goal and an assist, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin also scored and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Thursday night in Denver.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 36 shots, including seven in the final 3:15 for the Avalanche, who are 16-0-2 in their past 18 games.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 44 saves for the Lightning. Tampa Bay fell to 1-1-1 in its past three games following a 6-1-0 stretch.
It was the first game either team had played since Feb. 1.
Colorado struck first at 2:43 of the opening period. Landeskog skated in front of the net as Mikko Rantanen took a shot from the point, and he tipped the shot past Vasilevskiy. It was Landeskog’s 20th goal of the season.
The Avalanche made it 2-0 later in the first period when Nazem Kadri skated with the puck down the right side, then slid a pass through traffic to Toews as he went to the net. Toews got his blade on the puck and deflected high past Vasilevskiy at 6:16 for his ninth of the season.
Tampa Bay got one back midway through the first period when Point and Kucherov came into the Colorado zone on an odd-man rush. Point fed a pass through the slot to Kucherov coming down the left side, and he beat Kuemper at 10:45. It was his sixth of the campaign.
The Avalanche restored the two-goal lead early in the second period. Nichushkin picked up the puck in his own zone, skated down the left side and beat Vasilevskiy at 1:56 for his 13th.
The Lightning answered before the second intermission when Mikhail Sergachev sent a stretch pass to Point, who went in alone on Kuemper and beat him at 15:54. It was his 17th of the season.
Vasilevskiy came off for an extra skater with 3:15 remaining and Tampa Bay swarmed in the Colorado end but couldn’t get the equalizer.
–Field Level Media
