The Avalanche won the first game of a four-game homestand Monday, defeating Vancouver 3-1 at the . Check out the game story here.
THREE STARS
- . Had two goals, an assist and nine shots in another strong home game for the Avs’ star.
- . Colorado goalie made 31 saves, keeping Vancouver scoreless until 18:44 of the third period.
- . Had two points, including the Avs’ first goal.
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
One of the referees was Tom Chmielewski of Colorado Springs. Tom, the son of a longtime referee, is the first Colorado native to become a full-time NHL ref.
NEXT UP
Calgary, Wednesday at the Pepsi Center, 7:30 p.m
Calgary, Wednesday at the Pepsi Center, 7:30 p.m.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
Big Hart. Despite missing eight games with a shoulder injury, which saw him go from second to out of the top-10 in NHL scoring, MacKinnon still has to be considered a Hart Trophy candidate as the league’s MVP. Consider: His three-point night gave him 69 points on the season, in 54 games, and his 1.28 points-per-game is third in the NHL, behind Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (1.30) and Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh (1.29).
Nathan MacKinnon had 2-1 — 3 in ’ 3-1 win over Vancouver
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
Home cookin’. The Avs are now 21-8 at the Pepsi Center (21-8-1 overall, including an OT loss in Sweden), and winners of 11 of their last 12. They have outscored their opponents 43-19 during that stretch, averaging 3.5 goals per game.
Scoring first. The Avs went 1-1-1 in last week’s road trip and only led once — when defeating Vancouver in OT in the first game. Scoring first is big with this team, and most teams. Colorado is 28-6-2 when scoring first.
Perfect PK. The Avs were 2-of-2 in penalty killing against the Canucks and improved to 86-of-93 (92.5 percent) at home this season — the NHL’s top-ranked PK at home. Colorado has allowed a league-low seven power-play goals at home.
Against the ‘Nucks. The Avs finished 2-0-1 against Vancouver, winning twice in less than a week.
Joe Sakic talks about state of the after making subtle moves on NHL trade deadline day
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
