Rantanen, Colton score back-to-back goals in second period, Avalanche beat Kraken

SEATTLE (AP) — Mikko Rantanen and Ross Colton scored two minutes apart midway through the second period and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Seattle Kraken 5-1 on Monday night.

Cale Makar, Jonathan Drouin, and Valerie Nichuskin also scored for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon had three assists, and Devon Toews and Tomas Tatar each had two for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev had 18 saves as Colorado won two of three in the season series, with the road team winning each time. 

The win was coach Jared Bednar’s 300th, coming in his 550th game. He is the franchise’s all-time winningest coach.

“As a coach, you want them all to get rewarded for their hard work,” said coach Jared Bednar, who earned his 300th win. “One way to get rewarded is me giving them more ice time, but the production is what they’re looking for and what you need in order to win hockey games. So guys are feeling good about themselves, and it can carry over and give your team a little bit of confidence that you can get the job done under difficult circumstances.”

Brandon Tanev scored his first of the season for Seattle, making his return to action after suffering a lower body injury in the season opener at Vegas on Oct. 10. Joey Dacord finished with 26 saves.

Rantanen lifted Colorado into a 1-1 tie with 7:55 left in the second period. MacKinnon had a shot from the left circle that went off the side of the net. It bounced to Rantanen who swept it in for his 10th goal in 14 games. It is the second straight season Rantanen had tallied his 10th in fewer than 15 games.

Colton gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead with 5:48 left in the period when he was at the left post to poke in the rebound of Toews’ shot that had bounced off the chest of Dacord. It was his fourth of the year.

“I think we did a great job of coming to the rink that next day (after Saturday’s 8-2 loss to St. Louis),” Colton said. “We had a talk and kind of just said, ’All right, we’ve got to flush it. This is unacceptable, took the slap on the wrist with video and then kind of learned from it.” 

Makar made it 3-1 at 4:14 of the third with his fourth. Drouin’s goal at 9:09 was his first. Nichuskin’s with 3:17 left was his third.

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“There were stretches of good hockey from our group, then there were times when we were not in the game and giving them too much time and space,” Tanev said. “When you give great players too much time and space, you make it look easy for them.”

Vince Dunn set up Tanev’s goal with a hard shot from the left circle. The puck rebounded to Tanev at the right post, and he shoveled it in at 6:13 of the first period.

Seattle thought it had taken a 2-0 lead on a short-handed goal by Alex Wennberg with 5:19 left in the opening period. But the Avalanche challenged it, claiming goaltender interference, and the challenge was upheld.

UP NEXT

Avalanche: Host Ducks on Wednesday night.

Kraken: At Oilers on Wednesday night.

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