Sometimes all it takes is one game, a strong start, and a few goals to erase a week of frustration. That’s what the Colorado Avalanche delivered Friday at Ball Arena.
The Avs scored early in each period and got strong goaltending from Mackenzie Blackwood on their way to a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Colorado snapped its two-game losing streak while ending Tampa Bay’s three-game winning streak.
Head coach Jared Bednar has preached for weeks that his team needs to put together a full 60-minute effort. The Avalanche got closer to that despite taking seven penalties and giving up six power-play opportunities, all of which came after the first period.
“Close as you can get with all the penalties in the second period,” Bednar said. “I thought we had a great first, five-on-five in the second was really good. I mean, you’re killing six straight penalties, right? When it all adds up, at one point in the game, you’re only using half your bench. The challenge was going to be having those guys stay in it, but then they had a good third period too.
“That was probably our most complete effort of the year.”
Devon Toews, Nazem Kadri, Fedor Svechkov, Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas scored for Colorado, which improved to 6-4-1 on the season. MacKinnon added three assists, Necas had two, and both Lehkonen and Toews finished with two points.
In goal, Blackwood made 31 saves to earn his fifth win in eight starts. He is now 3-1-0 in his last four games.
“I thought he was great again,” Bednar said. “Especially like you’re looking at power play after power play after power play. They’re getting good looks. Our PK is trying to do a job. I mean, he made big saves. He made really big saves for us.”
The Lightning came out aggressively, generating the first handful of chances. Blackwood held his ground, including a glove save on Jake Guentzel in the early going.
Moments later, MacKinnon picked up the puck and led a rush the other way. After entering the offensive zone, he stopped and dropped a pass for Necas, who sent a slick no-look feed through the zone to Toews for an easy finish.
Toews’ third goal of the season came at 1:08.
“I saw him. You know, it’s a little tougher to see with the bubble, but I knew right away, before I got the puck, he was gonna be there,” Necas said.
Colorado continued to build momentum and drew a penalty against Brandon Hagel. The top power-play unit capitalized 43 seconds into the ensuing man advantage. MacKinnon dropped the puck to T.J. Hughes down low, and after holding it for a few seconds, Hughes found Kadri in the slot, who beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 2-0.
Kadri entered the game without a goal despite recording 27 shots in his first 10 games. He had seven assists over that stretch.
Colorado extended its lead just 24 seconds into the second period thanks to Svechkov’s second of the season. The 23-year-old center took an open-ice hit early in the shift but got back into the play and found himself on a two-on-one rush with Hughes. Vasilevskiy stopped his attempted pass, but the puck popped into the air, allowing Svechkov to bat it into the open net.
Svechkov has points in three straight games and six overall this season. His career high entering the year was 17 points.
“I’m not surprised because, like, big, strong guy can protect pucks and play with guys on his back,” Bednar said. “He’s got really good sense.”
For as well as Colorado had played through the opening 20 minutes and into the second, its parade to the penalty box became the story of the middle frame. The Avalanche took six minor penalties in the period, giving Tampa Bay five power-play opportunities.
Guentzel scored his first of the night at 8:13, just 13 seconds into the Lightning’s second man advantage. Lehkonen answered at 13:57 with his ninth goal of the season, restoring Colorado’s three-goal lead.
Lehkonen entered the night among the NHL’s leading goal scorers and remained tied for third in the league with nine goals. Only Kirill Kaprizov (11) and Leon Draisaitl (10) have more. More impressively, his nine goals have come on just 17 shots.
Tampa Bay cut into the lead again with 43 seconds remaining in the period, when Guentzel scored his second goal of the night. His tally came just milliseconds after Colorado’s fourth penalty of the period expired.
Bednar challenged the play, believing the Lightning played the puck with a high stick. After a lengthy review, the goal stood, leaving the Avalanche shorthanded again following the unsuccessful challenge.
Colorado killed off that penalty and another before MacKinnon scored off the rush in the third period. After the Lightning’s Charle-Edouard D’Astous brought Tampa Bay within two, Necas sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Good: Strong Start, Strong Goaltending
Everyone in that locker room knew the Avalanche needed a better start, especially against an offense as skilled as Tampa Bay’s.
Colorado delivered early and got exceptional goaltending from Blackwood at key moments. His save on Guentzel in the opening minute came just moments before the rush that led to Toews’ goal.
Goalies are often measured by their counting stats, such as wins, save percentage, shutouts, etc. But games like this are a reminder that it’s not always about how many saves a goalie makes. Sometimes, it’s when he makes them.
Blackwood’s work became even more important as the penalties piled up. Tampa Bay had several opportunities to make a game of it, but the Avalanche’s goaltender made the stops necessary to preserve the lead. Even when Tampa started getting some past him, he never let them get back within a goal.
The power play also deserves credit. The top unit converted early to give Colorado a two-goal cushion, and the Avalanche continued to answer whenever Tampa Bay threatened to make things interesting. They built a three-goal lead three separate times.
Bad: Shot Suppression
For as strong as the Avalanche’s offense was last season, you could argue their defending was an even bigger reason they won the Presidents’ Trophy. Colorado allowed the fewest goals in the league and ranked among the NHL’s top five teams in shot suppression. This season, the Avs have slipped to 17th in shots allowed per game.
More concerning is the recent trend. Colorado has surrendered more than 30 shots four times this season, with three of those games coming in the last four. The 41 shots allowed in New Jersey were the most the Avalanche had given up in 10 months and just the third time since October 2024 that they had allowed 40 or more.
The penalties obviously played a major role in Friday’s shot total. Tampa Bay outshot Colorado 34-24.
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