Rapid Recap: Avalanche 8, Ducks 4

The Colorado Avalanche scored six unanswered goals and stretched its winning streak to a season-long four games with an 8-4 victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
Colorado came back to tie the outing twice, including erasing a 4-2 deficit after the first period.
Nazem Kadri had four points with two goals and two assists, Devon Toews had three assists and Andre Burakovsky (one goal, one assist), Joonas Donskoi (two assists), Samuel Girard (one goal, one assist), Mikko Rantanen (one goal, one assist), Brandon Saad (one goal, one assist) and chipped in with multi-point performances as well.

Nathan MacKinnon and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored, and Matt Calvert, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin contributed helpers.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped all 15 shots he faced in a relief appearance, playing the final 40 minutes and earning his 16th victory of the year.
Adam Henrique had a goal and two assists and Denver native Troy Terry picked up two points (one goal, one assist) for the Ducks. Derek Grant scored on a shorthanded, penalty shot late in the first period that made it a 4-2 game at the time.
The teams meet again on March 29 in the final contest of the season in Denver.

THE GOALS

1st Period
1:01 COL (1-0) - Andre Burakovsky knocked in a loose puck in the crease after Nazem Kadri's shot rebounded free.
2:16 ANA (1-1) - Troy Terry tallied with a backhand shot after a rebound.
4:33 ANA (1-2) - Danton Heinen scored on a wrist shot from the left circle that went short-side.
7:01 COL (2-2) - Nazem Kadri evened the score with a slap shot from the left circle that ricocheted off the far post and in.
15:59 ANA (2-3) - After a faceoff in the offensive end, Adam Henrique was alone in front, received a pass from below the goal line by Troy Terry and scored.
19:42 ANA (2-4) - PSG, Derek Grant scored on a penalty shot while the Ducks were shorthanded.
2nd Period
11:25 COL (3-4) - Mikko Rantanen threw the puck on net from behind the goal line, and it caromed off the goalie and into the cage.
18:26 COL (4-4) - Andre Burakovsky's wrist shot from the slot was redirected into the goal by Nazem Kadri in the low slot.
3rd Period
1:01 COL (5-4) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon fired a one-timer from the left circle that found twine after passes from Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen.
3:24 COL (6-4) - Samuel Girard threw the puck to the front of the crease from the corner, and it went into the goal after caroming off a Ducks player's body.
16:48 COL (7-4) - ENG, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's long shot found the back of the open goal.
18:45 COL (8-4) - PPG, Brandon Saad tallied off a cross-ice feed from Joonas Donskoi.
Final: Avalanche - 8 | Ducks - 4

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 2 for 3
Anaheim: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Hunter Miska started and made three saves. Philipp Grubauer appeared in his first game in relief this season and stopped all 15 shots he faced in the final 40 minutes of play.
Anaheim: Ryan Miller made 28 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Andre Burakovsky's tally at 1:01 of the first period was the fastest goal to start a game by an Avalanche player this season.

NOTEBOOK

The Avs and Ducks were meeting in their fifth of eight matchups this season, with Colorado now 3-1-1 in the series... Colorado is now 4-1-1 on its season-long, nine-game homestand and is on a season-long four-game winning streak... Burakovsky scored and added an assist for his sixth multi-point outing of the year. He now has seven points (three goals and four assists) in his last six games... Nazem Kadri had two goals and two assist for his second multi-goal game of 2020-21 and his first four-point performance of the campaign… It was Kadri's second-straight outing with multiple points and his seventh of the season. He now has three goals and three assists in the past two games... Nathan MacKinnon is on a three-game goal streak, while Mikko Rantanen extended his point streak to three contests (three goals, two assists)… The game was originally scheduled for March 31 in Denver but was moved up due to rescheduling of Colorado's postponed contests from last month.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Happy MacK.

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Hunter Miska played his fifth game of the season, while Philipp Grubauer started as the backup. The Avalanche didn't make any other changes to its lineup. Kyle Burroughs, Peyton Jones, Jayson Megna and Kiefer Sherwood are presently on the team's taxi squad.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram (upper body), J.T. Compher (upper body) and Cale Makar (upper body) were full participants at morning skate on Tuesday, and Byram and Compher could be medically cleared to play in the Avalanche's next game on Thursday. Head coach Jared Bednar said he doesn't have "a firm timeline" on Makar's return, but the defenseman could possibly be available as early as Thursday as well. Conor Timmins missed his fifth straight contest with an upper-body injury. Goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) and defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) are out long term.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche begins a two-game set against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Colorado then wraps up its franchise-record, nine-game homestand on Saturday afternoon against Minnesota.

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 - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 7 Devon Toews
49 Samuel Girard - 34 Jacob MacDonald
2 Dan Renouf - 5 Greg Pateryn
Goaltenders
32 Hunter Miska (starter)
31 Philipp Grubauer (backup)