Rapid Recap: Lightning 4, Avalanche 3 (OT)

Valeri Nichushkin scored in the third period to tie the game, but the Colorado Avalanche fell 4-3 in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Pepsi Center on Monday.
Nathan MacKinnon scored and added an assist in the outing and now has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 14 career games against the Bolts. Andre Burakovsky also scored for the Avs.
Gabriel Landeskog recorded two assists, while Erik Johnson, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen picked up a helper each.
Rantanen left the game with 12:42 remaining in the second period and did not return after suffering an upper-body injury when he was tripped up by Tampa's Erik Cernak and collided into the boards.

Tampa Bay has now won 11 straight games. The Avs and Bolts concluded their season series with Colorado finishing 1-0-1.
Statistics
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Photo Gallery
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Highlights
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Notes & Quotes
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
4:49 COL (1-0) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen fed a saucer pause into the slot from behind the goal line, and Andre Burakovsky scored to give the Avs the early lead.
2nd Period
4:54 TBL (1-1) - Alex Killhorn tied the game by scoring into an open net after Ondrej Palat passed the puck to him through the slot.
5:10 TBL (1-2) - Cameron Gaunce shot the puck from the left point and tallied his first goal of the season.
13:43 TBL (1-3) - Brayden Point's initial shot was stopped, but Colorado goaltender Pavel Francouz couldn't locate the puck and Steven Stamkos knocked the loose puck into the net.
18:26 COL (2-3) - Gabriel Landeskog dropped the puck for Nathan MacKinnon, and MacKinnon skated it into the slot and scored with a wrist shot to cut the deficit in half.
3rd Period
12:43 COL (3-3) - Valeri Nichushkin deflected a Cale Makar shot from the point into the net to tie the game after a power-play chance expired.
Overtime
3:03 TBL (3-4) - Nikita Kucherov scored on a breakaway to end the game in overtime.
Final: Lightning - 4 | Avalanche - 3 (OT)

3 STARS

Selected by Colorado Hockey Coach of the Game: Scott Foster (DU Jr. Pioneers)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 4
Tampa Bay: 0 for 1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz stopped 23-of-27 shots
Tampa Bay: Curtis McElhinney made 24 saves

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon scored and added an assist to improve to 82 points (33 goals, 49 assists) this year, tied for the second most in the league. The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native now has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 14 games against Tampa.
MacKinnon has collected at least one point 47 times this season, second only to the league's leading scorer, Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl (49).

NOTEBOOK

Cale Makar registered his 31st assist of the year, matching the record for helpers by a rookie defenseman in franchise history, a mark set by Quebec's Bruce Bell in 1984-85... Mikko Rantanen assisted on Andre Burakovsky's goal to record his 250th NHL point... Valeri Nichushkin scored his 12th goal of the campaign and is now two shy of tying his career high of 14 that he set in 2013-14 with the Dallas Stars... Gabriel Landeskog collected two helpers to record his fifth multi-point game of the year... Landeskog now has 252 career assists and moved past Matt Duchene (250) for sole possession of seventh place in assists in Avalanche history (since 1995-96)... Colorado is now 1-2-1 through four games of its current five-game homestand. The Avs are 8-3-1 over their last 12 games and have collected points in 11 of their last 14 contests (8-3-3)... Tampa Bay extended its win streak to 11 games, establishing a new record for the longest winning stretch in franchise history... The Avalanche and Lightning closed out the season series with Colorado finishing 1-0-1.

QUOTABLE

Andre Burakovsky on the game: "I think we were battling hard and we knew we needed some points. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the two [points], but I think we are doing a good job getting back in the game from 3-1 and getting a point here."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Shootin' pucks

ROSTER REPORT

Pavel Francouz was between the pipes while Hunter Miska was the backup netminder after being recalled from the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles on Sunday… T.J. Tynan played his 15th game of the season and his first since Dec. 7. He started the game on a line with Tyson Jost and Vladislav Kamenev.

INJURY UPDATE

Philipp Grubauer missed the game with a lower-body injury… Matt Calvert also missed the contest with a lower-body injury that he suffered on Saturday. He is expected to be out for a couple weeks… Nazem Kadri continues to be out with a lower-body injury while Colin Wilson (lower body) is still rehabbing from two surgeries earlier this season... Mikko Rantanen left the game with 12:42 remaining in the second period after he was tripped up by Erik Cernak and collided into the boards. He suffered an upper-body injury, and head coach Jared Bednar said the forward will be out for "weeks."

UP NEXT

Colorado finishes its five-game homestand on Wednesday when the New York Islanders make their lone visit to Pepsi Center this year.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
81 Vladislav Kamenev - 17 Tyson Jost - 36 T.J. Tynan
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
32 Hunter Miska