Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals and had one assist, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Alexandar Georgiev made 42 saves and improved his record to 21-12-3.
Logan O’Connor, Matt Nieto and Devon Toews also scored for the Avalanche, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher each had two assists.
Colorado’s Cale Makar missed a second straight game due to an upper-body injury.
Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who had their three-game winning streak broken. Barkov returned from a one-game absence (hand injury).
Sam Reinhart added two assists for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 45 saves as his record dropped to 14-14-2.
Colorado opened the scoring on O’Connor’s short-handed goal with 3:35 expired in the first period. The play started with a two-on-one rush. Bobrovsky stopped Andrew Cogliano’s initial shot, but O’Connor tapped in the rebound.
The Avalanche made it 2-0 with 8:04 gone. Compher stole the puck from Barkov, and, from behind Florida’s net, centered the puck for Nieto, who slid the puck past Bobrovsky.
Florida got on the board at 7:03 of the second on a long Ekblad shot from the point.
The Panthers tied the score 65 seconds later as Eric Staal’s cross-ice pass connected with Bennett, who hit the net on a wrist shot from the right circle.
However, it took just 25 seconds for Toews to give Colorado a 3-2 lead. MacKinnon started the sequence with a pass to Bowen Byram, whose shot from the point was stopped by Bobrovsky. Toews then tapped in another easy rebound.
Colorado extended its advantage to 4-2 with 5:59 left in the second. MacKinnon was heavily involved again as he drew a tripping penalty on Eetu Luostarinen. Then, on the power play, Rantanen gathered a rebound and shoved the puck back to MacKinnon, who scored top shelf from the slot.
Florida cut its deficit to 4-3 at 11:03 of the third as Barkov tapped in the puck on a great pass from Reinhart.
The Panthers then had a power play after Evan Rodrigues was caught holding Matthew Tkachuk with 5:13 left. Florida nearly scored, but Brandon Montour’s shot hit the inside of the left post.
MacKinnnon’s empty-net goal with 59 seconds left made it 5-3.
–Field Level Media
