Mikko Rantanen and Ross Colton scored two minutes apart midway through the second period, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Monday night.
Cale Makar, Jonathan Drouin, and Valeri Nichushkin also scored for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon contributed three assists, while Devon Toews and Tomas Tatar each had two. Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves as Colorado won two of the three games in the season series, with the road team emerging victorious each time.
The win marked coach Jared Bednar’s 300th victory in his 550th game, solidifying his status as the franchise’s all-time winningest coach.
“As a coach, you want them all to get rewarded for their hard work,” said Bednar. “One way to get rewarded is by giving them more ice time, but production is what they’re looking for and what you need to win hockey games. So guys are feeling good about themselves, and it can carry over and give your team confidence that you can get the job done under difficult circumstances.”
Brandon Tanev scored his first season goal for Seattle, returning to action after suffering a lower-body injury in the season opener against Vegas on Oct. 10. Joey Daccord finished with 26 saves for the Kraken.
Rantanen tied the game 1-1 with 7:55 left in the second period. MacKinnon’s shot from the left circle hit the side of the net and bounced to Rantanen, who swept it in for his 10th goal in 14 games. This marks the second consecutive season Rantanen has reached 10 goals in fewer than 15 games.
Colton gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead with 5:48 left in the period, poking in the rebound of Toews’ shot that had bounced off Daccord’s chest. It was Colton’s fourth goal of the year.
“I think we did a great job of coming to the rink that next day (after Saturday’s 8-2 loss to St. Louis),” Colton said. “We talked and said, ‘All right, we’ve got to flush it. This is unacceptable,’ took the slap on the wrist with video, and then learned from it.”
Makar extended the lead to 3-1 at 4:14 of the third period with his fourth goal. Drouin followed with his first at 9:09, and Nichushkin added his third with 3:17 left.
“There were stretches of good hockey from our group, then there were times when we were not in the game and giving them too much time and space,” Tanev said. “When you give great players too much time and space, you make it look easy for them.”
Vince Dunn set up Tanev’s goal with a hard shot from the left circle. The puck rebounded to Tanev at the right post, and he shoveled it in at 6:13 of the first period.
Seattle thought it had taken a 2-0 lead on a short-handed goal by Alex Wennberg with 5:19 left in the first period. However, the Avalanche challenged it, claiming goaltender interference and the challenge was upheld.
UP NEXT
- Avalanche: Host Ducks on Wednesday night.
- Kraken: At Oilers on Wednesday night.
