Martin Necas had a goal and two assists, Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews each had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri scored his first goal of the season for the Avalanche (6-4-1), who had lost two straight and three of their past four (1-2-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves.
Jake Guentzel scored twice, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (7-3-0), who had won three straight and seven of their past eight. Brayden Point had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves.
Toews gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 1:08 of the first period when he finished a crossing pass from Necas past the stick of a sprawling Vasilevskiy and into the open net. MacKinnon fed Necas cutting down into the slot, where he sent the puck back out to Toews in the left circle.
Kadri’s power-play goal extended it to 2-0 at 5:52. He one-timed T.J. Hughes’ pass from below the goal line far side off Vasilevskiy from the left circle.
Fedor Svechkov pushed it to 3-0 just 24 seconds into the second period when he batted his own blocked pass out of the air and inside the left post. Svechkov looked to pass across to Hughes on a 2-on-1, but Vasilevskiy got a stick on it and sent the puck airborne.
Guentzel cut it to 3-1 on the power play at 8:13. Brock Nelson blocked D’Astous’ point shot and the puck caromed to Guentzel off the left post for the short side finish into the open net.
Lehkonen made it 4-1 at 13:57 after his snap shot from the left circle caromed in five-hole off the left leg of Erik Cernak. MacKinnon took the puck around the net and found Lehkonen in the circle to set up the sequence.
Guentzel cut it to 4-2 at 19:17 just after the conclusion of a power play. He finished Point’s backhand pass from the slot at the right post. Colorado challenged the play for a missed stoppage, but video review upheld the initial call.
MacKinnon extended it to 5-2 at 4:18 of the third period when his wrist shot beat Vasilevskiy’s blocker short side from just inside the left dot. Lehkonen sprung MacKinnon in the neutral zone and he used his speed to create space.
D’Astous made it 5-3 at 15:13 with a snap shot from the high slot that beat the blocker of Blackwood.
Necas then scored into an empty net at 17:19 for the 6-3 final.
