MacKinnon's Three-Point Night Leads Avalanche Past Wild 5-2 in Game Two to Take 2-0 Series Lead

Game Two Win

Nathan MacKinnon posted a goal and two assists to help the Avalanche defeat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 in Game Two of Round Two at Ball Arena on Tuesday. Martin Necas and Gabriel Landeskog each posted a goal and an assist for the Avs, while Nicolas Roy and Valeri Nichushkin both scored. In net for Colorado, Scott Wedgewood stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced.

Additionally, Colorado went 2/5 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill.

How It Happened

Necas opened the scoring 2:51 into the game with his first goal of the playoffs via a backhand shot off the rush after he and MacKinnon combined on a give-and-go defensive-zone breakout.

The Wild tied the game at 2:57 of the first period when Kirill Kaprizov scored a breakaway goal.

Landeskog gave the Avs a 2-1 lead on the power play at 8:24 of the first period with his third goal of the playoffs via a one-timer from the low slot set up by MacKinnon's feed. With the primary assist on the goal, MacKinnon posted his 21st multi-point period in the playoffs and passed Joe Sakic for the most in franchise history.

Colorado doubled its lead at 1:24 of the second period when Roy scored his third goal of the playoffs via a shot from the slot off the rush.

MacKinnon gave the Avalanche a 4-1 lead on the power play at 13:18 of the third period with his fourth goal of the playoffs via a left-circle one-timer. With that tally, MacKinnon scored his 59th-career playoff goal and passed Peter Forsberg for the second most in franchise history.

Additionally, MacKinnon became the sixth player in the last 40 years to post three-consecutive three-point playoff games.

Marcus Johansson made it a 4-2 game at 14:33 of the third period via a one-timer from the slot.

Colorado took a 5-2 lead at 19:55 of the third period when Nichushkin scored his first goal of the playoffs via an empty-net tally from outside of the right circle in the Avs' defensive zone.

"I felt like we did a lot," Cale Makar said when asked what the Avs did best on Tuesday. "Our defending habits were quite a bit better. I still think we can tighten up in a couple areas [like] letting them get to the net. Overall, it felt like we played a consistent game. Found the puck, put the puck in the right areas when we needed to."

Next Up

The Avalanche travels to Minnesota to face the Wild in Game Three of Round Two on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and the Altitude Sports Radio App.