*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
One goal down, time for the next one. Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Nashville Predators with a 7-4 victory on Saturday night in Denver.
After two straight losses, the Avalanche picked up a win with a 7 goal showing to secure a playoff spot as they look to get back on top of the hockey world. Makar and MacKinnon paced the Avalanche on the scoresheet as 4 skaters registered multi point games.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said of securing a playoff spot "That's the goal, right? Get in the playoffs and give yourselves a chance. So it just shows the dedication, the hard work that all the guys are putting into every season and trying to keep improving from the season before. Yep, feels good."
Cole Smith gave the Predators a 1-0 lead when he scored 3:41 into the first period. Jonathan Drouin answered with his 15th goal of the season to even the score 1-1. Mark Jankowski put the Predators ahead 2-1 before Dante Fabbro made it a 3-1 game. Casey Middlestadt scored on the power play for the Avalanche to make it 3-2 after one period.
Gustav Nyquist put the Predators ahead 4-2 just 57 seconds into the second period. Artturi Lehkonen answered back for the Avalanche to make it a one goal game before Makar scored a power play goal to make it 4-4. Yakov Trenin made it 5-4 after two periods before MacKinnon scored twice in the 3rd to make it a 7-4 final.
MacKinnon said after the game that "That's a tough team to play against and did a great job. It just felt like we just made some mistakes and they just scored, but it wasn't like we were getting outplayed. It felt like we were generating a ton early, so we just had to stick with it and lock it down a little bit. I thought 'Jus' was so good coming in like that. It's really hard. Really hard. Can't be overlooked how good he was. So he definitely calmed us down."
Alexandar Georgiev got the start for the Avalanche and got hit hard early. Georgiev allowed 4 goals on 13 shots before being pulled. Backup Justus Annunen came on and stopped all 22 shots he faced to get the win, improving to 6-3-1.
Getting the start for the Predators was Kevin Lankinen, who got hit with the loss to drop his record to 10-5-0 in 15 starts. Lankinen stopped 35 of the 41 shots he faced from the Avalanche attack, good for a .854 save percentage.
Nyquist said of the loss that "We played pretty good, to be honest with you, 5-on-5 especially. I think we make it tough on them. We create enough to probably score a couple more. Obviously special teams, that's kind of where we lose the game. They get a few on the power play. We don't. So both power play and our kill has to be better there. That's kind of what loses the game. Otherwise, I think we win this game."
The Avalanche hit the road to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night with Georgiev likely to start. The Predators head back home ahead of a tilt with the Boston Bruins on Tuesday as Juuse Saros is the projected starter.
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