MacKinnon gets 4 points, Avalanche rally past Hurricanes for 10th straight win

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and three assists, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to extend their winning streak to 10 games, 5-3 against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

MacKinnon also had four points (two goals, two assists) in a 6-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. He has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in a four-game point streak.

Brock Nelson scored two power-play goals, and Gabriel Landeskog and Jack Drury each scored for the Avalanche (31-2-7), who extended their point streak to 13 games (12-0-1). Cale Makar and Martin Necas each had two assists, and Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves.

“It was a great effort,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Easy to pack it in, but I thought as soon as the puck hit the ice in the third, our guys were determined. (They) earned a couple power plays. It was great to see our power play capitalize. They come up with a couple huge goals, and we had a great third period.”

Sebastian Aho scored his 300th NHL goal and had an assist for the Hurricanes (24-14-3), who have lost three in a row and are 2-5-1 in their past five. Frederik Andersen made 30 saves.

"(Colorado) made the plays, but we're giving them opportunities that you just can't do," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We need contributions from everyone. That's the only way this team wins. We're obviously not getting it done."

Colorado scored 33 seconds apart early in the third period to tie the game.

Nelson made it 3-2 with a power-play goal at 1:09 of the third when he tipped McKinnon’s point shot in off the right post.

“First two periods, I don’t think the power play was necessarily at its best,” Landeskog said. “In the third, we got our power play working and we knew we just kind of needed one goal to get us going and get it within one. We did, and the floodgates opened up for us.”

Drury tied it 3-3 at 1:42 on a snap shot from the left circle off a short pass from Ross Colton.

“He just does so many things right, and he does so many hard things right,” Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns said. “He’s such a great player, such a smart player. It’s a great win against a great team.”

Nelson scored on the power play on a snap shot in the right circle off a cross-ice pass from MacKinnon to give the Avalanche a 4-3 lead at 7:30.

“They started putting that game on us, and that was the game that worked for us in the first two periods,” Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers said.

Aho gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 18:09 of the first period. Aho forced a turnover against Makar, and Eric Robinson swept the puck into the neutral zone to Aho, who skated in and put a backhander five-hole on Wedgewood.

Landeskog tied it 1-1 at 1:47 of the second period with a wraparound at the right post.

Ehlers put the Hurricanes back up 2-1 with a power-play goal at 4:47 when he beat Wedgewood blocker side with a snap shot from the slot through traffic.

Andrei Svechnikov pushed the lead to 3-1 at 7:50. He took a pass from Aho in the neutral zone, skated behind the defense and cut across the low slot before sliding a backhander around the left pad of Wedgewood.

MacKinnon was awarded a goal at 19:42 of the third for the 5-3 final. He was taken down by Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere as they both skated after the puck as it headed towards the empty net.

Carolina has blown multigoal leads in five of its past eight games, going 0-4-1.

“We talk about it, but we keep beating ourselves,” Brind’Amour said. “In the room, it has to come from there. Right now, it’s not happening.”

Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said: “We’ve got to get some confidence back in our game and how we do things and trust in our game. “There’s no continuing what we’re doing. It’s frustrating. It’s on me and the leadership here. We’ve got to get better.”

NOTES: The Avalanche became the fourth team in NHL history to post two double-digit win streaks in the same season (also 10 games from Nov. 4-26), following the 2019-20 Lightning (11 games & 10 games), 1970-71 Bruins (13 games & 10 games) and 1929-30 Bruins (14 games & 11 games). ... MacKinnon posted his 33rd career four-point game and passed Joe Sakic (32) for the second-most in Avalanche/Nordiques history behind Peter Stastny (52). ... Colorado defenseman Brent Burns skated in his 965th straight game dating back to Nov. 21, 2013, which passed Doug Jarvis for the third-longest streak in NHL history. ... Aho is the fifth Finnish player in NHL history to score 300 goals. He joined Teemu Selanne (684), Jari Kurri (601), Olli Jokinen (321) and Mikko Rantanen (310). … Gostisbehere returned to the lineup after missing the past three games with a lower-body injury. He was minus-1 with one shot on goal and three blocks in 22:44 of ice time. … Aho has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in the past nine games. ... Andersen is 0-7-2 in his past nine starts.