Ryan Johansen and Nathan MacKinnon scored 2:08 apart in the third period, Mikko Rantanen had two goals and an assist and the Colorado Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 6-3 on Tuesday in Denver.
MacKinnon and Miles Wood each had a goal and an assist, Ross Colton also scored before being ejected, Cale Makar had three assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 20 saves for Colorado.
Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Toffoli each had a goal and an assist, Timo Meier added a goal and Vitek Vanecek turned away 26 shots for New Jersey.
The Avalanche had lost three of their previous four games — getting shut out in all three defeats. The Devils had won four of their previous five games.
The game was tied 3-3 in the third before Johansen stole a cross-ice pass and beat Vanecek for his fifth goal of the season at 7:37. MacKinnon made it a two-goal game when he scored on a backhander at 9:45. It was also his fifth goal.
Rantanen scored into an empty net at 18:33, his eighth marker of the season.
The teams traded goals in the first period, with Toffoli scoring at 3:43, his eighth of the campaign, and Rantanen tying it on a power play at 15:50.
Things got chippy in a penalty-filled second period that saw Colton draw his game misconduct after he scored on an odd-man rush at 2:25, his third goal of the season. At 10:44, Colton drew a boarding penalty for a hit on Luke Hughes, and then he crosschecked Meier in the face.
He was given a five-minute major in addition to a two-minute minor and was ejected from the game. The Devils scored on the ensuing five-on-three when Meier beat Georgiev from close in at 11:04, tying the game 2-2. It was his third goal of the season.
The Avalanche got a short-handed goal on the same New Jersey power play. Valeri Nichushkin chipped the puck out to Wood in the neutral zone, Wood went in all alone on Vanecek and beat him with a wrister to give Colorado a 3-2 lead at 11:45.
It was his second marker of the season.
The Devils answered on the same power play when Hamilton scored on a shot from the point at 15:04, his fifth tally of the season.
–Field Level Media
