Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Necas Line Shines, Leads Avalanche to 6-1 Win Against Blues

Saturday Night Scoring Fest

Martin Necas scored twice, Artturi Lehkonen added a goal and Nathan MacKinnon posted three assists to help the Avalanche defeat the St. Louis Blues 6-1 on Saturday at Ball Arena. Cale Makar, Josh Manson and Nicolas Roy each added a tally for Colorado, while Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced. 

Colorado's 14 goals through its first two games of the season are tied for a franchise record with the 1992-93 Quebec Nordiques.

"I feel like when we play good defense, we don't spend much time in our own end," Necas said. "And we have the firepower to create chances offensively. So, it starts in our own end, and then we go from there."

With the victory, the Avalanche improved to 2-0-0.

After Saturday's contest, Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar highlighted how the team improved upon its performance on Wednesday.

"I can't think of one thing that we talked about after last game and went through that we didn't implement in our game and improve on," Bednar said. "We were 100 times better off the rush. We were closing plays out quickly in the [defensive] zone and hanging around [and] not swinging away. The habits were good. We were getting in and out of the zone. We were still dangerous off the rush. Our [defensemen] were helping. Our rush coverage was so much better...The things that we liked out of the first game, they were multiplied in this one. And the things that we didn't like were so much better."

How It Happened

Makar opened the scoring 4:09 into the game with his first goal of the season via a shot from the right doorstep, set up by Necas' backhand pass from the slot after he received MacKinnon's centering feed.​

Colorado doubled its lead at 13:11 in the opening frame when Necas scored his first goal of the season via a left-circle shot set up by MacKinnon's feed after Lehkonen started the sequence with an interception along the right-wing boards.

In addition to the Avalanche's 2-0 lead through 20 minutes of play, the team outshot the Blues 15-4. 

The Avalanche took a 3-0 lead at 5:38 of the second period when Josh Manson scored his first goal of the season via a one-timer from the point that was deflected on its way to the net. Colorado's offensive-zone play began after a nice entry pass from T.J. Hughes.

From 6:18 through 8:18 of the second period, Colorado killed its first penalty of the game, with Blackwood making three saves. 

Lehkonen gave the Avs a 4-0 lead at 11:40 of the middle frame with his third goal of the season via a shot from the slot after he batted down Blues goalie Jordan Binnington's clearing attempt out of midair.

Colorado took a 5-0 lead at 18:02 of the middle frame when Nicolas Roy scored his second goal of the season via a quick left-circle shot where he skated to the right and shot to the left.

Necas made it 6-0 with his second tally of the game at 18:25 of the middle frame via a backhand shot from the doorstep into a half-open goal assisted by Landeskog's low-to-high pass after Binnington was behind the net.

Dalibor Dvorsky put the Blues on the board at 2:34 of the third period with a backhand shot from the right doorstep.

Next Up

The Avalanche begins a two-game road trip against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. MDT on Altitude, Altitude+, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and the Altitude Sports Radio App.