Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar and Alex Newhook had goals, Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 in Denver on Saturday night.
It was Colorado’s sixth straight win over the Predators, dating back to the first-round playoff series between the teams last season.
Matt Duchene scored his 10th career goal against his former team, and Juuse Saros turned away 27 shots for Nashville. The Predators are 0-4-2 in their last six games.
The Avalanche continued their futility on the power play with a missed opportunity in the first period. They nearly scored, but Valeri Nichushkin couldn’t convert on J.T. Compher’s backdoor pass on the man advantage.
Nashville got its first chance on the power play with 15 seconds left in the first period and had the man advantage to start the second but managed just one shot on goal. The rebound turned into a shorthanded chance for Colorado.
After killing off another Predators power play, the Avalanche got a second chance on the man advantage and cashed in. Makar got the puck at the point and passed it to Rantanen at the right circle. His sharp-angle shot beat Saros high at 8:38 of the second.
It was his 21st of the season.
Colorado nearly scored on its next power-play chance but did get another goal late in the second. Nichushkin stole Kevin Gravel’s stretch pass at center ice and gave it to Evan Rodrigues, who skated into the Nashville zone. He sent a pass through the slot to Newhook, whose one-timer beat Saros high at 19:44.
It was his seventh of the season.
The Predators got one back early in the third period. Duchene tried to stuff the puck in on a wraparound, but Georgiev got a pad on it. Duchene claimed his own rebound and scored high to the far side at 3:25 for his seventh of the season.
Saros came off for an extra skater with 1:30 left, but Makar scored an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left, his seventh of the season.
–Field Level Media
