Four Avs Score in Win at Chicago

CHICAGO--One sign of a good team is if it can put together a strong performance after a loss.
The Colorado Avalanche had its season-long, nine-game point streak end at the St. Louis Blues on Monday, but it got back in the win column in its next outing with a 4-1 victory at the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.
"We talked before that we should have a mindset that we should never lose two in a row," said Avs forward Andre Burakovsky. "Obviously St. Louis wasn't our best one, so we needed a bounce back today, I think we got it."
The Avalanche had four different goal scorers and five players finish with a plus-3 rating to earn its third win in as many games against Chicago this season.

Colorado is now 3-0-0 against the Blackhawks this year, outscoring its Central Division rival by a combined score of 16-6.
"We were just trying to play our best. You never really know what the other team is going to give you," said Nathan MacKinnon. "I think the best way to play is just focus on your own game because like I said you can't focus on what other people are going to do, you just have no idea. They pushed late and I thought Frankie did a great job in net."

Pavel Francouz made 31 saves to improve to 8-0-1 in his last nine decisions tied for the 11th longest stretch without a regulation loss in franchise history.
"I didn't really know what to expect this game," said Francouz. "I was kind of surprised that we were dominating the first period. We are a much better team. They were just lucky that [Corey] Crawford played really well in their net because he stopped so many chances there. To me, it was an easy first period, I didn't have much saves there. Unfortunately, I let one in and it didn't feel great, but the guys were able to score two more goals in the second and then we managed the game pretty well."

Colorado outshot Chicago 19-6 in the first period but the teams were tied 1-1 going into the first intermission. The Avs were able to find the back of the net twice in the middle stanza with tallies from MacKinnon and Burakovksy, and Mikko Rantanen sealed the victory with an empty-netter in the final minutes of the third period.
With four goals in Chicago, the Avalanche has now scored a league-best 123 tallies this season and its 3.62 goals-per-game continues to pace the NHL. It marked the 17th time Colorado has scored four or more times in a game, tied for the second-most games with four or more goals this season. The Florida Panthers have also accomplished the feat 17 times while the Washington Capitals have done it 18.
"I mean the shots kind of said the story of the [first] period I thought," said MacKinnon. "I thought they were a little lucky to have it 1-1 after the first period, and we put them away in the second. It was great, we got another one in the third and it feels good to get that win."

Colorado is 14-4-1 over its last 19 games, the best record in the league since Nov. 7. The squad is 9-1-1 in its last 11 contests and 5-1-0 in its last six road games. The Avalanche is 12-6-1 on the road overall in 2019-20, tied for the second-most road wins (Arizona) in the NHL.
The Avs and Blackhawks conclude the season series on Saturday night at Pepsi Center.

QUICK TURNAROUND

The matchup in Chicago was the first contest of Colorado's sixth back-to-back set this season, as the squad returns home to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
The Avs are now 5-1-0 in the first contest of these sets and are currently 3-2-0 in the second. The Avalanche has swept three of its back-to-backs this year, split one and got swept in another.
"First of all we do everything it takes, focus on this one and right now we just have to switch the mindset to start preparing for tomorrow," said Burakovksy. "Do whatever it takes. Recover if you need that and get ready for tomorrow. We know it is a tight schedule, we have a lot of games so first of all focus on one game and now we will take the next one."

MORE AVALANCHE NOTES

Gabriel Landeskog recorded two assists to bring his career point total to 428 (183 goals, 245 assists) and move into a tie with Matt Duchene for seventh place in Avalanche history (since 1995) and 11th place in franchise history in scoring.
Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to six games. He has totaled eight points (three goals, five assists) during that stretch.
Mikko Rantanen finished with two points (one goal, one assist) and a season-high plus-3 rating. He has recorded 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in nine games since returning from injury. The right wing also increased his career total to 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 13 contests against Chicago.
Andre Burakovsky notched his 13th goal of the season, surpassing the 12-goal total he has reached in each of the last three seasons.
Ian Cole registered his second multi-point game of the season (also: Oct. 18 at Florida). His five shots on goal matched a career best he has reached three times in the past (last: Jan. 5, 2018 at New York Islanders).
Anton Lindholm collected an assist in his season debut. He logged 12:01 and finished the game with an assist, plus-1 rating and three hits.