Postgame Wrap-Up: Roommates Strike Again

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--The Colorado Avalanche's "roommate" combo has delivered when the team has needed a goal recently.
First it was Saturday night at home against the Dallas Stars when Tyson Jost and Alexander Kerfoot assisted on J.T. Compher's game-tying marker to spark Colorado's comeback victory. On Tuesday, the trio was once again on the ice for Jost's go-ahead goal at the Nashville Predators.
Jost broke a two-all stalemate with a power-play tally 5:07 into the third period, and it held as the game-winner in the Avalanche's 3-2 win at Bridgestone Arena. The team has now won five games in a row and is 7-0-1 in its last eight outings.

Jost, Compher and Kerfoot have lived together for the past two seasons, as the young players try to establish themselves in the league.
The Colorado threesome of sophomore players weren't an even-strength line versus the Predators, but they made up the club's No. 2 power-play unit along with Carl Soderberg and Erik Johnson. The group tallied 100 seconds into the team's second man-advantage chance of the game.
"I think it is just a coincidence," Jost said of the recent success he's had with Compher and Kerfoot. "It's exciting to get that go-ahead goal there. This was a really fun game."
Coincidence or not, the three players have been a part of two key goals in back-to-back outings and have given the club the supplemental scoring its required.
"On different nights, we have different guys stepping up. That is what you want," said head coach Jared Bednar. "To see those guys score the other night against Dallas late, we needed something to get back into that game."
Compher has points in five straight games he's played in, and Kerfoot has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in the past 12 contests.
For Jost, he has four points (goal and three assists) in Colorado's last four games and has registered three goals and four assists in the nine outings since he returned from a head injury.
"I feel really good. I just have to keep this consistency up," Jost said. "Honestly, I didn't even know about those stats. I'm not really focused on that. I think it's just fun when the team is winning and you're putting up points. It's fun when you're climbing the standings."
Jost's confidence with his game presently is clear to Bednar after the forward missed four games with the injury.
"The pressure was kind of relieved from him," Bednar said, "Then he came back and has been playing real well and he hasn't let up."
DE-JA-VU: Nathan MacKinnon scored the Avalanche's first two goals of the game, and each one was assisted by Mikko Rantanen and Samuel Girard.
Rantanen has assisted on all 17 of MacKinnon's goals this season.
"He makes really good plays," MacKinnon said of Rantanen. "He's such a good passer. He finds me in a lot of quiet areas. On my second one, he knew I was going to cut middle, I was just waiting for him to see me. He's going to find me if I'm open."
MacKinnon, Rantanen and fellow linemate Gabriel Landeskog have combined for 103 points this season, becoming the first trio of NHL teammates to surpass the century mark in the opening 24 games since Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza did it with Ottawa in 2005-06.
Colorado's threesome has factored in 49 of the squad's 89 goals this season (55 percent).
FIVE FOR VARLAMOV: Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov won his fifth straight game with a 36-save performance against the Predators.
Varlamov was perfect in the third period, stopping all 20 shots he faced. Nashville more than doubled its shot total in the last 20 minutes after firing 18 combined pucks in the opening two stanzas.
"He's been outstanding all year," Jost said of Varlamov. "You kind of just expect that now. He deserves all the credit in the world. He's an awesome guy, great goalie, and he held us in there when they made the push in the third. They kind of had waves when they came at us and Varly was our rock again."
BARRIE HURT:Tyson Barrie missed his first game of the season on Tuesday night with a lower-body injury.
With the defenseman out of the lineup, he was replaced on the blue line by Mark Barberio, who was returning to game action after four outings as a healthy scratch. Barberio was paired with Nemeth on the backend, while Nikita Zadorov took Barrie's spot on a combo with Ian Cole.
PENS UP NEXT:Colorado concludes its fourth back-to-back set of the season on Wednesday at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the Avs' second-straight back-to-back after playing at Arizona on Friday and at home against Dallas on Saturday. The club will play 11 total consecutive-day outings this year.
The Avalanche is now 3-1-0 in the first game and has a 1-1-1 record in the second contest.
Pittsburgh played at the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night and won 4-3.
MORE NOTES:The Avalanche extended its win streak to a season-long five games and is 7-0-1 over its last eight outings. Colorado has won its last five contests on the road, its longest road winning streak since March 25-April 10, 2014 (also five wins). Colorado's 7-2-1 record over its last 10 games is tied with Columbus for second in the league over that span.
The Avs have now scored 60 goals on the road so far this season, the most of any team in the league. Their 20 points earned on the road is also tops in the NHL (Toronto ranks second with 18).
The Avalanche finished 2-for-2 on the power play, the third time this season the club has been perfect with the man advantage. Colorado is now 25-for-80 (31.3 percent) on the power play this season, ranked first in the league.
Mikko Rantanen finished with two assists and leads the league with 40 points (10 goals, 30 assists) this season, the fastest player to reach the 40-point mark (24 games played) to begin a season since the club moved to Denver. Peter Stastny (18 goals, 22 assists, 40 points in 18 games, 1987-88), Michel Goulet (14 goals, 27 assists, 41 points in 20 games, 1987-88) and Marian Stastny (19 goals, 21 assists, 40 points in 22 games, in 1982-83) all accomplished the feat faster with Quebec. The only time an Avalanche/Nordiques player was the first in the NHL to 40 points in a season was Peter Forsberg in 1997-98, when he and Philadelphia's John LeClair both reached 40 points on Dec. 12, 1997.
Samuel Girard recorded his second multi-point game of the season (also Nov. 14 vs. Boston, two assists).