Avalanche Pick Up 3-1 Win Over Predators

Saturday night showdown.

The Colorado Avalanche topped the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Saturday night at Ball Arena, as the Avalanche continued up their five-game homestand. Colorado is now 16-11-2 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Mikko Rantanen scored on the power play, while Alex Newhook also found the back of the net and Cale Makar (1G, 1A) added an empty net goal. in goal, Alexander Georgiev made 25 saves on 26 shots.

For the Predators, Matt Duchene scored. In between the pipes, Juuse Saros made 27 saves on 29 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

First period:

No goals.

Second period:

Tweet from @Avalanche: A Finnish legend. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/BrJEif2VwC

8:38 – Avalanche 1, Predators 0, PPG – Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar exchanged a pass back-and-forth before Rantanen sniped a shot from the left faceoff circle past Saros.

19:44 – Avalanche 2, Predators 0 – Valery Nikhushkin intercepted a pass along the boards and Evan Rodrigues grabbed the loose puck and countered. On a two-on-one rush, he faked a shot and sent a feed across the slot to Alex Newhook. The winger wired the puck past Saros to double Colorado’s lead.

Tweet from @Avalanche: The setup and the shot. Glorious. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/PpQmTaG04A

Third period:

3:25 – Avalanche 2, Predators 1 – Matt Duchene curled around the net and got his shot off, but Georgiev made the initial stop. Duchene picked up his own rebound and ripped his shot past Georgiev to trim Nashville’s deficit down 2-1.

19:28 – Avalanche 3, Predators 1 – Cale Makar extended Colorado’s lead 3-1 as he buried the puck into Nashville’s empty net.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Rantanen buried his 21st goal of the season and now has goals in back-to-back games. The power-play goal marked his fourth of the season.
• Newhook tallied his seventh goal of the season.
• With the empty-net goal, Makar recorded his seventh goal of the season. The defenseman also handed out an assist and generated a game-high of seven shots on net.
• Georgiev made his 18th start of the season and his record improved to 12-6-2.
• Colorado finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. The Avalanche scored their first power-play goal since Dec. 5.
• Nathan MacKinnon (upper body) and Jacob MacDonald were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche continue their five-game homestand as they host the New York Islanders on Monday night at Ball Arena. The puck drops between the Avs and Isles at 7 pm MT.