MIKKO WITH ALL THE ASSISTS:With three assists and a goal, Mikko Rantanen now has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) through the first seven games of the campaign. His 11 assists lead the NHL.
"When Mikko is skating--he is a big, strong guy--and when he is moving his feet, he is a lot to handle," Bednar said of the right wing. "What he can do is he can hold guys off. He has the talent and ability when he is holding guys off to create separation. He can get his head up and find the open man, so if you are doing the right things and you can talk a little bit, he will find you. He made some nice plays."
Rantanen has an assist in each contest his year, and his seven-game assist streak is the second longest to begin a season in franchise history (John-Michael Liles, nine games in 2010-11).
"He's got the confidence to go along with it now, and he is making plays consistently," Landeskog said of his linemate. "He is so strong and big to knock off the puck, so he is making plays and he is doing it really well."
Rantanen and fellow linemate Nathan MacKinnon have each registered at least a point in all seven of Colorado's games to start the new campaign. They are now the fifth different set of teammates in Avalanche/Nordiques history to simultaneously post a point streak of seven or more games to begin a season. The duo trails only Joe Sakic and Anton Stastny, who had an eight-game stretch in 1988-89 with Quebec.
The Avs' top line, which also includes Landeskog, combined for 10 points (four goals, six assists) in the contest against New Jersey.
SVEN'S SEASON DEBUT: After missing the first six games of the campaign with a leg injury, Sven Andrighetto made his 2018-19 season debut in the contest against the Devils.
The Zurich, Switzerland, native scored Colorado's first goal of the game to tie the contest at 1-1 at 1:17 of the second frame.