Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist to add to his NHL points lead, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 in Denver on Tuesday night.
MacKinnon has 107 points (29 goals, 78 assists) in the race for the Art Ross Trophy.
Devon Toews had a goal and two assists, Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin and Logan O’Connor also scored and Martin Necas and Jonathan Drouin had two assists each for Colorado (44-25-3, 91 points), which is 11-1-1 since Feb. 23.
J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist, Austin Watson also scored and Alex Lyon made 23 saves for Detroit (33-32-6, 72 points).
The Red Wings were without goaltender Petr Mrazek, who was injured 1:38 into the win at Utah on Monday night.
Compher got Detroit on the board against his old team on the first power play of the night. Michael Rasmussen had the puck down low, sent a pass to Compher in the slot, and his one-timer beat Mackenzie Blackwood six minutes into the game.
Blackwood turned away 21 shots.
The Avalanche answered 44 seconds later when Makar’s shot from the point deflected off the body of Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider and by Lyon, and then they took the lead later in the period.
MacKinnon carried the puck behind the Detroit net and backhanded a pass to Drouin in the slot, Drouin put a shot on net that Lyon stopped but Nichushkin was at the doorstep to knock in the rebound for a 2-1 lead.
It stayed that way until the second period when Colorado cashed in on its first power play of the night. Necas had the puck on the left side and passed through the slot to Toews, and his one-timer from the top of the right circle made it a two-goal game at 4:39.
MacKinnon extended the lead when he scored on a rebound at 8:34 of the third period. Watson scored at 16:53, Lyons came off for an extra skater with 2:55 left and O’Connor scored into the empty net 51 seconds later.
–Field Level Media
