The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Minnesota Wild 6-0 on Saturday afternoon at Ball Arena to stretch its season-long winning streak to six games.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made all 31 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, the most in the league this year. The win was his 18th of the campaign and his sixth in a row, tying his career high in both categories.
Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists and Nathan MacKinnon had three assists to lead the Avalanche offensively with three-point performances. Joonas Donskoi (two assists), Ryan Graves (two assists) and Cale Makar (goal, assist) also had two multi-point outings.
The Avalanche led 2-0 after the first period and doubled its lead in the first two minutes of the middle frame with Mikko Rantanen and Tyson Jost scoring 1:07 apart. Devon Toews added to Colorado’s lead with 1:13 remaining in the second and Valeri Nichushkin made it a 6-0 game at 4:52 of the third.
The Avs had a 42-31 edge in shots on goal in the outing and outscored Minnesota by an 11-1 margin during the two-game set. Colorado is now 10-2-1 in its last 13 contests.
The Avalanche finished its season-long homestand with a 7-1-1 record. The nine straight games at Ball Arena marked the longest continuous homestay in franchise history.
THE GOALS
1st Period
4:13 COL (1-0) – PPG, Cale Makar’s wrist shot from the high slot went off the left post and in.
11:05 COL (2-0) – Gabriel Landeskog took a pass from Nathan MacKinnon and his ensuing shot went off the Minnesota goalie’s shoulder and into the net.
2nd Period
0:46 COL (3-0) – Coming down the right side, Mikko Rantanen unleashed a wrist shot that went over the left shoulder of the goalie and into the cage’s top shelf.
1:53 COL (4-0) – Tyson Jost took a pass from Joonas Donskoi at the left circle and fired a one-timer into the cage.
18:47 COL (5-0) – Devon Toews took a cross pass from Nathan MacKinnon and chipped the puck off the post and into the goal.
3rd Period
4:52 COL (6-0) – Valeri Nichushkin drove to the net and buried a backhand shot.
Final: Avalanche – 6 | Wild – 0
POWER PLAYS
Colorado: 1 for 2
Minnesota: 0 for 4
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made all 31 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, setting a new career high for a season.
Minnesota: Kaapo Kahkonen had his nine-game winning streak come to an end, allowing five goals on 42 shots. It was his first loss since Feb. 16 at Los Angeles.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Gabriel Landeskog (goal and two assists) and Nathan MacKinnon (three assists) both had three-point games. It was both forward’s second straight three-point outings after also doing so in Thursday’s win versus Minnesota.
It was MacKinnon’s fourth three-point game of the season, while it marked Landeskog’s third three-pointer of the year.
NOTEBOOK
Gabriel Landeskog appeared in his 660th career game, passing Cody McLeod (659) for the fourth most with the Avalanche (since 1995-96). Only Milan Hejduk (1,020), Joe Sakic (870) and Adam Foote (760) have played more games since the team moved to Denver… Philipp Grubauer assisted on Mikko Rantanen’s goal for his second assist of the season, tied for the second-most among league goalies this year. It is the most points by an Avs goalie since 2016-17 when Calvin Pickard also had two assists… Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen are on five-game point streaks while Joonas Donskoi and Gabriel Landeskog are on four-game streaks…Rantanen’s goal 46 seconds into the second period was the fastest scored to begin a period by Colorado this season… The Avs were playing their third afternoon game of the season and their second of three at Ball Arena. Colorado, which plays two more day contests this year, improves to 3-0-0 in afternoon affairs… Colorado is now 4-1-1 this season against Minnesota, picking up nine of a possible 12 points… Prior to the game, the Avalanche acquired goaltender Jonas Johansson in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
BIG HIGHLIGHT
Video: MIN@COL: Rantanen goes coast-to-coast for nifty goal
IMAGE OF THE GAME
Move over rookie.
ROSTER REPORT
J.T. Compher returned to the lineup after a seven-game absence, skating in his first contest since March 5 versus Anaheim. He missed six of those outings with an upper-body injury. Compher replaced Logan O’Connor, who was a healthy scratch, on a line with center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and wing Matt Calvert. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made his second straight start and played in his seventh straight contest. Adam Werner was the backup netminder as he switched spots Hunter Miska, who was assigned to the AHL Colorado Eagles on Friday.
INJURY UPDATE
Conor Timmins has missed the past seven games with an upper-body injury. Goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) and defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) are out long term.
UP NEXT
Colorado heads to Arizona to begin a back-to-back set against the Coyotes on Monday and Tuesday. Both games start at 8 p.m. MDT.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog – 29 Nathan MacKinnon – 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad – 91 Nazem Kadri – 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin – 17 Tyson Jost – 72 Joonas Donskoi
11 Matt Calvert – 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews – 8 Cale Makar
34 Jacob MacDonald – 49 Samuel Girard
27 Ryan Graves – 4 Bowen Byram
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
30 Adam Werner