Rapid Recap: Avalanche 4, Blackhawks 1

CHICAGO--The Colorado Avalanche had four different goal scorers and Pavel Francouz made 31 saves to earn a 4-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday.
Defenseman Ian Cole scored for the Avs in the first period, but Chicago's Ryan Carpenter tied the game 1:07 later. Nathan MacKinnon and Andre Burakovsky each tallied in the second period to help the Avalanche earn its third win in as many games against the Blackhawks this season.
Mikko Rantanen, who had an assist on MacKinnon's tally, was one of three players with multi-point nights after scoring an empty-net marker late in the third period. Gabriel Landeskog (two assists) and Cole (goal and assist) also had two-point outings. Defensemen Nikita Zadorov and Anton Lindholm collected helpers as well in the victory for Colorado.

The Avs and Blackhawks will complete their four-game season series on Saturday at Pepsi Center.
Statistics
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Photo Gallery
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Highlights
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
8:41 COL (1-0) - Ian Cole scored from the point after extended time in the offensive zone.
9:48 CHI (1-1) - Alex DeBrincat passed the puck to Ryan Carpenter, and he scored from the right circle.
2nd Period
7:49 COL (2-1) - Mikko Rantanen sent the puck up ice and it bounced off a defenseman and to Nathan MacKinnon, who scored far-side, top shelf. Anton Lindholm also recorded an assist on the tally, his first point of the year.
10:08 COL (3-1) - Andre Burakovsky collected the puck in the neutral zone and shot the puck through a defender's legs and scored his 13th goal of the season top shelf.
3rd Period
17:04 COL (4-1) - ENG, Mikko Rantanen scored into a vacant net from center ice.
Final: Avalanche - 4 | Blackhawks - 1

3 STARS

Selected by John Dietz of the Daily Herald

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 2
Chicago: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz denied 31 of the 32 shots he faced.
Chicago: Corey Crawford finished the contest by making 32-of-35 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon scored to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, five assists). He leads all Colorado skaters with eight points (three goals, five assists) in three outings against Chicago this year. The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native also has 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in his last 15 contests. He ranks third in the league in scoring with 52 points (21 goals, 31 assists) in 34 games this season.

NOTEBOOK

Mikko Rantanen scored and registered an assist on Nathan MacKinnon's marker and he now has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 13 career games against the Blackhawks. He also has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in nine outings since returning from injury… Anton Lindholm collected an assist in his season debut. He logged 12:01 and finished the game with an assist, plus-1 rating and three hits… The Avalanche opened its sixth back-to-back of the season and is now 5-1-0 in the first contest of these such sets… Colorado is now 3-0-0 against Chicago this season... The Avalanche is 9-1-1 in its last 11 contests and 5-1-0 in its last six road games... Colorado scored four or more goals in a game for the 17th time this campaign, tied for the second-most games with four or more goals this year... Gabriel Landeskog recorded two assists to bring his career point total to 428 (183 goals, 245 assists) and move into a tie with Matt Duchene for seventh place in Avalanche history (since 1995-96) and 11th place in franchise history in scoring... Andre Burakovsky notched his 13th goal of the season, surpassing the 12-goal total he has reached in each of the last three seasons... Ian Cole registered his second multi-point game of the season (also: Oct. 18 at Florida). His five shots on goal matched a career best he has reached three times previously (last: Jan. 5, 2018 at NY Islanders).

QUOTABLE

Nathan MacKinnon on his goal: "I was actually kind of planning that shot tonight. If I got into that area of the ice I was going to try to go far side on my right foot, and I managed to put it there."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Bring it in, boys.

ROSTER REPORT

Anton Lindholm played his first game of the season… Pavel Francouz started in net for the 13th time this year… Forward Vladislav Kamenev and defenseman Calle Rosen were Colorado's healthy scratches.

INJURY UPDATE

After Colorado's morning skate, head coach Jared Bednar noted that Erik Johnson (lower body) is a possibility for Thursday's outing against the Carolina Hurricanes. Johnson has missed 11 games since he suffered his injury on Nov. 23 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs… According to Bednar, Cale Makar (upper body) is feeling better as he continues his rehab but he did not have a projected return date for the rookie defenseman… Colin Wilson (lower body) is out indefinitely after having surgery.

UP NEXT

Colorado completes its sixth back-to-back set of the campaign when it hosts the Carolina Hurricanes at Pepsi Center on Thursday. It is the start of a two-game homestand that concludes on Saturday against the Blackhawks

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 83 Matt Nieto
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
28 Ian Cole - 16 Nikita Zadorov
44 Mark Barberio - 54 Anton Lindholm
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
31 Philipp Grubauer