Colorado's Top Line Continues Scoring Ways vs. Coyotes

The Colorado Avalanche's top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen makes up the NHL's top three leading scorers since March 1, and their offensive success continued on Monday.
Rantanen scored twice, MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and Landeskog contributed a helper as the Avs earned a 4-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Ball Arena.
"Key for us was our top guys got the job done. I thought the MacKinnon line was exceptional, (Cale) Makar was really good, [Philipp Grubauer] was probably our best player," said head coach Jared Bednar. "Those guys getting the job done, and special teams were good; I liked our penalty kill a lot and power play moved the puck around pretty good… Sticking with it and grinding through what wasn't an easy night for us I don't think. I don't think we had a ton of energy throughout our lineup, but like I said, the top guys were real good and got us the win."

Rantanen's two goals increased his total for the year to 25 tallies, the second most in the NHL. The markers brought his career point total to 300, becoming the fifth player from the 2015 NHL Draft class to hit the milestone.
"I don't really think about it, I just heard like two days ago it was going to get close," Rantanen said of recording 300 points in the league. "I don't focus on those too much yet, it's still early in my career. Obviously it is nice to hit those, but don't think about those too much."
His 300th point came one day after Landeskog hit the half-century mark with a three-point performance in Colorado's 4-1 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
Each member of the top line has 32 points since March began, with Rantanen finding the back of the net 17 times and adding 15 assists and Landeskog and MacKinnon each having 12 goals and 20 helpers in that time frame.

"Stepping up at the right time for us, and it just goes to show you that our team goes as those guys go… They are the leaders of our hockey club; we need them to be," said Bednar. "To be able to produce, not just lead and play well, but to be able to produce at the clip that they are producing at as a trio I think is pretty impressive.
"We have some other guys that are doing a nice job and getting rewarded from a production standpoint. Other guys play more unheralded roles that are not as noticeable and don't show up on the scoresheet but do a lot of heavy lifting for our team. But those guys are leaders, especially on the offensive side of it. They've been getting it done and it goes to show you when you got three world class players like that and they are playing together and producing the way they are, you are going to win a lot of hockey games."
MacKinnon extended his point streak to 10 games, the longest active streak in the NHL. He has produced 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) over that stretch and 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists) in his last 18 contests (since March 12). MacKinnon's 1.37 points per game this season ranks fourth in the league.

NHL TRADE DEADLINE

The league's trade deadline for the 2020-21 season passed at 1 p.m. MT on Monday but not before Colorado attained center Carl Soderberg from the Chicago Blackhawks.
It was the third move that the Avs made in four days after also acquiring defenseman Patrik Nemeth from the Detroit Red Wings on Friday and goaltender Devan Dubnyk from the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Soderberg played for the Avalanche from 2015-2019 while Nemeth dressed for the Avs for two seasons from 2017-2019 after being claimed off waivers from the Dallas Stars just prior to that first campaign.

"I talked with both of those guys--they were super excited," said Bednar. "We got roles for them. I think that adding the depth that we did in the three positions we did at center, defense and in goal, I just think it makes us a better hockey team.
"We are looking forward to this. This is our team, and we are ready to start the stretch run and we are excited. I feel like adding those guys in those positions is going to be great and especially knowing all three of those guys are great teammates and fun guys, so our guys are excited to get them in the locker room."
Soderberg will meet the Avs in St. Louis on Tuesday and could play against the Blues on Wednesday. Nemeth is with the squad and is day-to-day with a nagging upper-body injury but should return to game action soon.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

The Avalanche is 18-4-2 (38 points) at home this season, tied with the New York Islanders (18-2-2) for first in the league in both wins and points on home ice.
The Avs are 12-0-1 in their last 13 games at Ball Arena, the fourth-longest home point streak in franchise history.
The Avalanche wrapped up its seventh back-to-back set this season and is now 4-0-3 in the second half of such sets. Colorado also completed its eight-game season series against Arizona, finishing 6-1-1 against the Coyotes.
Mikko Rantanen's first goal stood as the game winner, his sixth game-winning tally of the season. He ranks second on the team in game-winning markers (Gabriel Landeskog has seven) and is tied for fifth in the Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl and Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin.
Colorado is one of three teams in the NHL to feature two, 50-point scorers (MacKinnon, 52, Rantanen, 50). Edmonton (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl) and Toronto (Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner) are the other two.
Philipp Grubauer finished with 35 saves to earn his 25th win of the season, tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy for the league lead. Grubauer started his 102nd game in an Avalanche sweater, moving into a tie with Craig Anderson for fifth place in Avalanche history (since 1995) and 10th in franchise history in starts by a goalie.
Tyson Jost notched an assist to extend his point streak to a season-high three games (three assists), also tying his career long.