Avs See Contributions Throughout Lineup In Arizona

After not finding the back of the net as frequently as the players would have liked, six members of the Colorado Avalanche broke through and hit twine on Saturday.
Jacob MacDonald tallied his first goal as a member of the Avs while Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Joonas Donskoi and Tyson Jost all scored before Pierre-Edouard Bellemare sealed the victory with an empty-net marker in the final minutes of play. Colorado won 6-2 against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena to sweep the back-to-back.
"Absolutely we want contribution from as many guys as we possibly can, and I think over the last couple weeks it feels like we've been a little bit snake bitten as a group. I have certainly felt that way," said Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. "You can tell by a few other guys--obviously Belly and Josty as well, [J.T. Compher] kind of the same way--we have been creating some scoring chances but haven't been able to capitalize on any.

"Especially when you lose a few games in a row and you are not on the scoresheet and you feel like that was maybe why you lost games, it gets frustrating, it gets hard on you. But we've been sticking with it and tonight we got rewarded for the hard work, and it was great to see guys like Belly and Josty get on the scoresheet, Donny as well. They have all been real important for us all year, and I thought we played a solid game tonight."

The Avalanche had 12 skaters find the scoresheet in the victory and outshot the Coyotes 41-24 overall, which included holding a 20-5 edge in the category in the middle frame.
Colorado improved to 2-0-0 against Arizona in 2020-21 with six more games remaining in the season series. The clubs will next meet on March 8 and 10 in Denver.
"The contributions from all four lines and six D tonight I thought was fantastic. Our depth came to play," said head coach Jared Bednar. "To see our team playing and trying to do the right things on both sides of the puck and defend real hard for [goaltender Hunter] Miska last night, and come out and trying to do the same thing again today and suppress shots and really go to work on the offensive side of it and really try to manage the puck properly. To see that sort of pay off and have all these guys find the back of the net with [six] different goal scorers, I think is a real positive.

"Then winning the special teams battle again tonight, getting a power-play goal and shutting their power play down on a couple opportunities, all those little things make a big difference at the end of the night on who wins and who loses."
Colorado was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, the third consecutive game the Avs have not surrendered a power-play goal. The Avalanche ranks first in the league in penalty kill and is now 51-for-57 (89.5 percent) this season while shorthanded.

"I think one thing that we stressed in meetings and pre-scouts and whatnot is just sticking to our identity and playing the way we know how, and the goals were going to come," said Jost. "I think these last few games really spoke to that, and that's what we did, and we got rewarded for it. It's awesome to see Belly get one at the end there too so a great overall effort by our team, but two more games here and we got to get two wins to finish up the road trip."
The Avs earned their third-straight win as the visiting team and wrapped up their third of eight back-to-back sets this season. Colorado is now 2-0-1 in the second game of such sets this season.
The Avalanche finishes its four-game road trip with outings at the San Jose Sharks on Monday and Wednesday.

LANDY TIES FOPPA

Gabriel Landeskog scored a power-play goal in the third period to tie Peter Forsberg for third all-time with 202 tallies in an Avalanche sweater (since 1995-96). Joe Sakic is first on the list with 391 and Milan Hejduk is second with 375.

"I had probably three or four posters of Foppa growing up in my room, so it goes without saying that he was a big role model for me and somebody I looked up to," Landeskog said of Forsberg. "It's nothing that you set out as a goal to tie one of your idols in an Avs sweater, or to pass him for that matter, but I'm sure when it's all said and done it will be something cool no doubt."
Landeskog is fifth in Avalanche history in game-winning goals (33) and power-play tallies (53). He is two game-winners shy and one man-advantage marker from tying his childhood idol for fourth in both categories in Colorado's record books.

BURAKOVSKY HITS ANOTHER MILESTONE

The day after skating in his 400th NHL game, Andre Burakovsky hit another milestone on Saturday.
The Swedish winger recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season with two helpers in the contest to reach and surpass the 200-point plateau in his career. He assisted on Nathan MacKinnon's first-period tally to register point No. 200 and also helped Jacob MacDonald score his first goal as a member of the Avalanche in the second frame.

Selected by the Washington Capitals with the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, Burakovsky has now registered 86 goals and 115 assists through 401 contests with the Avalanche and Capitals.

RENOUF MAKES AVS DEBUT

Defenseman Dan Renouf played his first game as a member of the Avalanche, which was also his second NHL contest. He made his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings on March 27, 2017 at the Carolina Hurricane and signed a two-year deal with Colorado on July 2, 2019.
"I haven't seen him play games since last year's exhibition. I mean I have watched him play in the American League, but we just haven't seen him at the NHL level," Bednar said of Renouf before the contest. "The reports out of the Eagles this year, coming into training camp and sort of finishing up last season, was that he was one of their leaders and was a real steadying force on their back end. He is a physical guy, he plays hard, he is never going to cheat you on his work ethic or his physicality or his try."
Renouf finished his first contest in burgundy and blue with three hits and one shot in 11:20 of ice time.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

The Avalanche has scored first in 13 of its 18 games this season and is now 10-2-1 when lighting the lamp first. Only the Toronto Maple Leafs (11) have more wins when getting on the scoreboard first in 2020-21.
Joonas Donskoi (one goal, one assist) recorded his second multi-point game of the season and picked up his 100th career assist on Jacob MacDonald's second-period goal.

Philipp Grubauer earned his 10th win of the season and ranks third among NHL goaltenders in wins and seventh in goals-against average (2.01).
Mikko Rantanen had two helpers in the contest to extend his point streak to three outings. He has one goal and four helpers in his stretch.
MacDonald's goal was the second marker of his career and first since Oct. 6, 2018 at the Tampa Bay Lightning when he was a member of the Florida Panthers.