Grubauer makes 42 saves to help Avalanche defeat Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Philipp Grubauer made 42 saves, and Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Mikko Rantanen had an assist, each extending his season-opening point streak to eight games, one short of the Colorado record set by John-Michael Liles (2010-11).

"We had a decent first five or six games, but not great," MacKinnon said of his line with Landeskog and Rantanen. "The last two or three have been awesome. We're controlling the play a lot more. Carolina] is a really good team. They buzz. We got some chances and took advantages of it."
***[WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Hurricanes highlights]*
Curtis McElhinney made 19 saves for the Hurricanes (4-3-1), who have lost three straight. Sebastian Aho had an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to eight games, tying Victor Rask's streak in 2016-17 for the longest in Hurricanes history.
"[Colorado] played hard tonight," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "And the difference for me is [when] you give their Grade A players an inch, it goes in the back of the net. That's where we're not quite there yet."
MacKinnon carried the puck from the defensive zone and fed Landeskog, who gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 16:49 of the first period.
Landeskog made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 9:13 of the second period. His cross-ice pass was blocked by Jordan Martinook, but the puck came back to the Colorado forward in the left face-off circle. Landeskog has five goals in the past two games after a hat trick against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

"It comes right back on his stick and he gets the goalie moving," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "But if you're going to be down in the right areas like that and you're going to be strong on the puck, you're going to get some chances, and he's putting them away right now."
MacKinnon gave the Avalanche a 3-0 lead when he kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and scored on a wrist shot at 16:51 of the third period.
Micheal Ferland redirected a centering pass at 17:27 to make it 3-1.

Grubauer, who stopped Ferland on a breakaway early in the second period, is 5-2-1 against the Hurricanes.
"Without the way he played tonight, we wouldn't have won this hockey game," Landeskog said. "We got two big points on the road, but we need to play better defensively. He was outstanding. It was one of the better goalie performances I've seen in a long time."

They said it

"We're motivated by leading by example. We want to work hard and show the rest of the team that if we're willing to put in the hard work, then I'm sure it's going to trickle down." -- Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog
Video: COL@CAR: Landeskog sneaks one past McElhinney
"You just don't want the losses to bleed and make it feel like, 'Oh, my God, we're not playing that well.' Really, in my opinion, we're playing pretty well. We're getting good efforts out of most of our guys, and a bounce here or there and we're talking about a whole different situation." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour

Need to know

MacKinnon's eight goals are the most by an Avalanche player through the opening eight games of a season since they relocated to Colorado from Quebec in 1995-96. He has two goals and 11 points in 10 games against Carolina. ... The Hurricanes were 0-for-5 on the power play. … Ferland scored for the third straight game. ... Jordan Staal won 20 of 26 face-offs.

What's next

Avalanche: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, ALT, SN, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: At the Detroit Red Wings on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-D, NHL.TV)