Rapid Recap: Avalanche 4, Lightning 3 (SO)

Nathan MacKinnon factored on all three Colorado Avalanche goals and Cale Makar scored the deciding goal in a shootout as the Avs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Saturday at Amalie Arena.
Gabriel Landeskog scored the only goal of the first peiod before Mathieu Joseph tied the contest at 1-1 in the middle frame. Mikko Rantanen regained the lead for the Avalanche before the second intermission and Steven Stamkos reknotted the contest early in the third. MacKinnon netted his first of the year but Tampa once again tied the game when Brayden Point scored with Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled for an extra attacker.
MacKinnon finished the game with one goal and two helpers while captain Landeskog had a marker and assist and defenseman Cale Makar had two helpers for his first multi-point game of the year.

The Avalanche finishes its first trip of the year with a 1-2-0 record and returns home to host the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena on Tuesday.
Statistics
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Highlights

THE GOALS

1st Period
9:02 COL (1-0) - Bowen Byram dumped the puck in and Nathan MacKinnon picked it up outside the right circle and found Gabriel Landeskog at the side of the crease and he scored.
2nd Period
6:34 TBL (1-1) - Mathieu Joseph hit a loose puck home on a broken play.
11:51 COL (2-1) - Mikko Rantanen converted on a two-on-one rush up the ice with Nathan MacKinnon.
3rd Period
3:44 TBL (2-2) - Steven Stamkos tied the game from the top of the paint.
9:50 COL (3-2) - PPG, Gabriel Landeskog won a faceoff back to Cale Makar and he set Nathan MacKinnon for a one-timer from the left circle.
17:25 TBL (3-3) - Brayden Point tied the game from the top of the right circle in a six-on-five situation.
Overtime
No Scoring
Shootout
TBL Victor Hedman - GOAL
COL Nathan MacKinnon - No Goal
TBL Brayden Point - No Goal
COL Mikko Rantanen - GOAL
TBL Ross Colton - No Goal
COL Andre Burakovsky - No Goal
TBL Steven Stamkos - GOAL
COL Gabriel Landeskog - GOAL
TBL Corey Perry - No Goal
COL Nazem Kadri - No Goal
TBL Anthony Cirelli - No Goal
COL Cale Makar - GOAL
Final: Avalanche - 4 | Lightning - 3 (Shootout)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 6
Tampa Bay: 0 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots and four of Tampa's six shootout attempts.
Tampa Bay: Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed three goals on 27 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Ryan Murray played in his 400th career NHL game. The defenseman was drafted second overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012 and skated in his rookie season with the club in 2013-14.
After spending seven campaigns with the Blue Jackets, Murray spent the 2020-21 year with the New Jersey Devils. He signed with the Avs this past summer and has 15 goals and 109 assists for 124 points in his 400 NHL contests.

NOTEBOOK

Cale Makar scored on his first career shootout attempt... Bowen Byram had an assist to collect his fourth point of the season (one goal, three assists)… Byram's four points this year are tied for the most among all rookies this year and leads first-year defensemen… Nathan MacKinnon has at least one assist in each of his first three games of the season, a feat he's accomplished twice before in his career (five games in 2019-20 and three games in 2013-14)… Through his first three games of the year, MacKinnon has one goal and four assists... Mikko Rantanen scored for the third game in a row and now has a point in all five games so far this season… Cale Makar had two helpers for his first multi-point game of the year.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Jared Bednar on Devon Toews:"His next checkup isn't until after we get back. We brought him on the trip because he's getting to the point where he's close to taking contact. He will have to see the doc one more time but being it a week-long road trip I think it's good for him to be skating with our team as much as possible, even if some of it is just gameday skates, he's doing extra working after. Making sure that when he is cleared and ready to go he is as close as possible at being a player for us."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Keep Battling.

ROSTER REPORT

Darcy Kuemper returned to the crease after Jonas Johansson guarded the pipes in Colorado's previous game. Head coach Jared Bednar used the same defensive pairings as he did in the last matchup but mixed up his bottom three forward lines. Nazem Kadri centered J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost while Mikhail Maltsev was between Sampo Ranta and Logan O'Connor. The final trio was Darren Helm, Jayson Megna and Andre Burakovsky.

INJURY UPDATE

Samuel Girard did not finish the overtime period after going into the boards. Forward Valeri Nichushkin is out on a week-to-week basis with an upper-body injury. Goaltender Pavel Francouz remains sidelined for three-to-four weeks after suffering a lower-body injury in a preseason contest on Oct. 5. Blueliner Devon Toews (upper body) continues as a non-contact participant at practice and is on Colorado's three-game road trip. Stefan Matteau will be out for "weeks" with a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT

Colorado returns home to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. The contest is at 6 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on ESPN in the United States.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
37 J.T. Compher - 91 Nazem Kadri - 17 Tyson Jost
75 Sampo Ranta - 11 Mikhail Maltsev - 25 Logan O'Connor
43 Darren Helm - 12 Jayson Megna - 95 Andre Burakovsky
Defensemen
4 Bowen Byram - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
3 Jack Johnson - 28 Ryan Murray
Goaltenders
35 Darcy Kuemper
31 Jonas Johansson