yankton_net
Nathan MacKinnon notched a goal and three assists, and Nazem Kadri scored his first goal of the season as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 on Friday night in Denver.
Devon Toews, Fedor Svechkov, Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas also found the back of the net for Colorado, which bounced back from consecutive road losses. Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 31 shots to earn the win in goal.
Jake Guentzel scored twice and Charle-Edouard D'Astous added another for the Lightning, whose three-game winning streak came to an end. Nikita Kucherov was held off the scoresheet and remains one goal or assist away from becoming the franchise's all-time points leader. He is currently tied with Steven Stamkos at 1,137 points.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18 of 23 shots for Tampa Bay, including a save with his mask on a MacKinnon liner.
Guentzel's goal with 42.7 seconds left in the second period cut the deficit to 4-2. The Avalanche challenged the play for a missed stoppage but were unsuccessful, resulting in a power play for the Lightning, which failed to convert. Tampa Bay struggled on the power play throughout the evening.
MacKinnon's goal with 15:42 remaining in the third period gave Colorado a 5-2 cushion. Necas sealed the victory with an empty-net tally late in the game.
Logan O'Connor returned to the lineup after missing the start of the season with a lower-body injury. He recently lost his father, Myles, a former NHL defenseman, at age 59.
The game featured the league's two longest-tenured coaches in Jon Cooper and Jared Bednar. Cooper took over the Lightning in March 2013 and has won two Stanley Cups. Bednar was hired by Colorado in August 2016 and captured one Cup in 2022 over the Lightning.
Wyndham Clark, the 2026 U.S. Open champion, was in attendance and brought his trophy. Clark drank from the cup while receiving an ovation from the crowd.
Lightning: At Utah on Saturday night.
Avalanche: At Nashville on Sunday night.
Originally reported by yankton_net.