Avalanche Beat Devils 5-1 on Pride Night to Kick Off Six-Game Homestand

Defeating the Devils

Nathan MacKinnon posted two goals and an assist to help the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Pride Night at Ball Arena on Wednesday. Martin Necas recorded three assists, while Artturi Lehkonen, Casey Mittelstadt and Logan O'Connor each scored a goal. In net for Colorado, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced.

"[It was] highly competitive, passionate hockey," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said about Wednesday's game. "That's what it was. And [there were] no passengers. I loved the effort and the competitiveness and the execution from all of our lines, all of our players, doing whatever they can do, playing as hard as they could possibly play in order to get us a big win."

With the win, the Avs improved to 34-24-2.

How It Happened

Lehkonen opened the scoring with his 24th goal of the season at 8:54 of the first period via a backhand shot from the doorstep set up by Necas' feed.

At 2:57 of the third period, MacKinnon doubled Colorado's lead on the power play with his 22nd goal of the year via a shot from the left doorstep.

"It's just a different setup," MacKinnon said about the power play. "I'm going to the net a little bit more with [Necas]...he [was] such a good half-wall player in Carolina obviously. I watched a lot of video on him when he came here, and he was so good on the half wall. So I don't want to hog it too much. And I think a little rotation is always pretty good. I think it confuses [the defense] a little bit."

New Jersey's Jack Hughes cut his team's deficit in half with a one-timer from the slot at 8:28 of the third period.

MacKinnon scored his second goal of the night and 24th of the season on the power play when he batted the puck out of midair from below the goal line at 14:14 of the third period. With that goal, MacKinnon recorded his sixth-career 90-point season.

Mittelstadt scored his 10th goal of the season to give the Avs a 4-1 lead at 16:40 of the third with a backhand shot from the bottom of the right circle.

At 18:18 of the third period, O'Connor gave the Avalanche a 5-1 lead with his seventh goal of the year via a shot from the slot set up by a nifty feed by Parker Kelly.

Next Up

The Avalanche continue their homestand on Friday against the Minnesota Wild at 7 p.m. MT on Altitude and Altitude+.