Necas gets 3 points, Avalanche cruise past Blues

DENVER -- Martin Necas scored two goals and had an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche won 6-1 against the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Nicolas Roy, Artturi Lehkonen, and Josh Manson each had a goal and an assist, and Nathan MacKinnon had three assists for the Avalanche (2-0-0), who have scored six or more goals in each of their first two games this season. Cale Makar also scored, Parker Kelly had two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves.

“I can't think of one thing that we talked about after last game and went through that we didn't implement into our game and improve on,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We knew they were coming in under tough circumstances on a back-to-back, and it's early in the year and you're not used to playing two games in a row. So we wanted to jump on them, and I thought our guys did a good job with their skating and energy, no question.”

Dalibor Dvorsky scored, and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for the Blues (1-1-0), who won 4-0 at the Dallas Stars on Friday.

“We're trying to become a consistent team in a lot of things that we want to be good at -- aggression, taking away time and space -- and we just didn't accomplish that,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “So it starts with our preparation mentally, and that's on everyone. Because the way they started the game, the way we started the game, there was a significant difference.

“Now it's early in the year, and you're going to have a lot of inconsistency. So now it's up to us to be able to find it. We knew it was not going to be like Game 1 every night. I mean that's just not the way it goes for anyone in the NHL, but we're playing some different style of game, and it's going to take a little while there. But also it's just the consistency.”

Makar scored to make it 1-0 Colorado at 4:09 of the first period when he finished a passing play with a wrist shot inside the right post. MacKinnon took the puck down to the left face-off circle and fed it in the slot to Necas, who then backhanded a pass to Makar at the backdoor.

“I think we're finding a lot of chemistry early,” Makar said. "I think a lot of it is just how well we're playing on the defensive side and just trying to figure out ways that we can capitalize (on the) transition game. It's definitely not going to be like this every single night, but it's good to start the season like it.”

Necas extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:12 of the first period when he beat Binnington’s glove far side with a wrister from the left circle. Lehkonen knocked Robert Thomas’ clearing attempt near the right wall back to MacKinnon, who sent a cross-ice pass to Necas all alone on the opposite side.

“Just a nice back check there by 'Lehky.' He stole the puck from them. Nice pass from Nate, and I just had the shooting opportunity,” Necas said. “I feel like when you play good defense, we don't spend much time in our own end, and we always we have firepower to create chances offensively.”

Manson pushed it to 3-0 at 5:38 of the second after his one-timer from the blue line deflected off the stick of Blues forward Jonatan Berggren and fluttered past the blocker.

Lehkonen made it 4-0 at 11:40, knocking down Binnington’s outlet pass from behind the net at the right circle and snapping the puck low past the sliding goalie.

“I think the best word I can think of to just kind of describe his games to this point is just he's relentless,” said Bednar, “and he’s just getting great touches on the puck to put it in areas for his teammates. He's always gone to the net hard, and he just looks like he's in midseason form already.”

Said Makar: “The little intangibles in his game are the things that make him special, and when he does those super well, he's getting rewarded right now. So it's fun to see because you love to see guys like that get rewarded, for sure.”

Roy scored to make it 5-0 at 18:02 when he wristed Parker Kelly’s drop pass in the left circle to the short side.

“They get in on a forecheck, and he fights to the inside ice,” Bednar said. “He doesn't have a lot of room there, but he's able to handle it on his forehand and put it on net and give himself a chance. But it's his original work and sort of his route to get to the inside when he sees the turnover, like trying to attack the inside of the ice as quickly as possible. It's something that he kind of has a knack for, of getting inside.”

Necas scored his second of the game just 23 seconds later to make it 6-0 at 18:25, backhanding Gabriel Landeskog’s centering pass into an open net from atop the crease. Binnington was out of position after getting behind the net to play the puck, but it skipped over his stick and went to Landeskog.

“I don't know what their home record was last year, but they didn't lose many games,” Thomas said. “So it's a tough place to play. They come out hot, and we knew that. And yeah, there's just some mistakes early, especially with me. So we got to clean that up.”

Dvorsky cut the deficit to 6-1 at 2:34 of the third period after he located a loose puck in the high slot and backhanded it far side past the glove of Blackwood.

NOTES: Landeskog played in his 800th career game. He’s the sixth player in franchise history to reach 800 games following Joe Sakic (1,378), Milan Hejduk (1,020), Adam Foote (967), MacKinnon (951) and Michel Goulet (813). … Necas scored his 50th career goal with the Avalanche (51 goals, 81 assists) in 110 games. He became the seventh player in franchise history to hit the mark in 110 games or fewer behind Jacques Richard (86 games), Real Cloutier (88 games), Marian Stastny (92 games), Peter Stastny (92 games), Anton Stastny (104 games) and Marc Tardif (106 games). … The Avalanche have recorded 14 goals through their first two games of 2026-27, the second-highest total by a reigning President’s Trophy winner, trailing only the 1989-90 Calgary Flames (16). ... The Avalanche dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen ... Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko did not play after suffering an upper-body injury in their win on Friday.