Avalanche overcome four-goal first period to defeat Ducks

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche overcame a slow start with six straight goals to defeat the Anaheim Ducks 8-4 at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Nazem Kadri had two goals and two assists, and Mikko Rantanen, Andre Burakovsky, Brandon Saad and Samuel Girard each had a goal and an assist for Colorado (17-8-2), which has won four straight.
"We work pretty well as a line," Kadri said of Saad and Burakovsky. "We're always talking, communicating, that's a big key to know where each guy is on the ice. We've definitely been playing well. I think we've been pretty solid for the most part and we're going to look forward to doing that down the stretch."

Philipp Grubauer made 15 saves and earned the victory for the Avalanche after replacing Hunter Miska, who allowed four goals on seven shots in the first period.
"Hunter would like to make another save or two in the first period, but I think we hung him out to dry," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "It's not something you want to do with a young goaltender who's coming in and trying to build some confidence."
Adam Henrique had a goal and two assists, Troy Terry had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Miller made 28 saves for Anaheim (8-16-6), which has lost four in a row.
"Giving up seven goals is not what you set out to do," Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "Had a great first period with four goals, which is a big outbreak for our team, but we didn't do a good enough job around our net. They had a lot of chances in the first period. [Miller] made some saves, they hit some posts and we had a chance to win the hockey game. I felt we didn't protect our net."
Burakovsky gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 1:01 of the first period.

Terry scored on Anaheim's first shot to tie it 1-1 at 2:16, and Danton Heinen made it 2-1 at 4:33 when he beat Miska short side from the left circle.
After Kadri tied 2-2 at 7:02, Henrique made it 3-2 at 15:59 with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from below the goal line by Terry.
Derek Grant scored his first of the season on a penalty shot while shorthanded after being tripped by Gabriel Landeskog on a breakaway to give the Ducks a 4-2 lead at 19:42.
"We have high standards set for our team," Bednar said. "We want to be a potent offensive team, and we want to make sure that we're one of the top defending teams in the League as well. I didn't like some of our habits in the first period when it comes to defending. We handed them Grade A quality chances, we turned over some pucks and gave them some more chances. I don't think that can be acceptable, so we had a chat after the first and our guys responded."

Rantanen cut it to 4-3 at 11:25 of the second period when he banked the puck off Miller from below the goal line, and Kadri tied it 4-4 at 18:26 on a tip of Burakovsky's shot from the right circle.
Nathan MacKinnon put Colorado ahead 5-4 at 1:01 of the third period with a power-play goal, and Girard made it 6-4 at 3:24 when his shot from the left corner deflected in off Ducks defenseman Josh Mahura.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored an empty-net goal with 3:12 remaining to extend the lead to 7-4 before Saad scored on a power play with 1:15 left for the 8-4 final.
"We went into the third tied and in-between periods we spoke about that, even though we had the lead (after the first)," Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. "The relevant part was that it was an even game on the road against a top team and we just needed to get a kill going to start the period and go back to a simple, boring game on the road. The goal to start the period near the end of the penalty kill wasn't great and we just couldn't sustain their pressure."
NOTES:Ducks goalie John Gibson was scratched with a lower-body injury and is day to day. … Anaheim has been outscored 22-6 in its four-game losing streak. … Rantanen has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past eight games. … MacKinnon has scored in three straight games.