Defensemen Bo Byram and Cale Makar returned and the Avalanche celebrated with shots.
The top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen (two) and Gabe Landeskog each scored as Colorado used 55 shots Thursday to rout the Minnesota Wild 5-1 at Ball Arena. Byram and Makar, who had missed nine and 10 games, respectively, combined for six shots.
Third-line winger Joonas Donskoi also scored for Colorado. Goalie Philipp Grubauer was solid for the Avs, once again, making 19 saves in his 17th win of the season to pull the Avs ahead of the Wild and into second place in the West Division.
“We just wanted to leapfrog them,” MacKinnon said. “They can leapfrog us on Saturday so we’re going to have to have desperation again and keep passing teams.”
The Avs opened with 14 shots in just six minutes, including eight on an early power-play opportunity. They opened the scoring with their 20th shot at 11:10.
“The start tonight was going to be really important,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Minny is a strong-starting hockey team. They’re 10-1 in their last 30 days when they score first and we were 9-1 so that first goal was an important one.”
The shooting barrage has gone on for nearly two weeks. The Avs have outshot the opposition 259-106 in their past six games, surrendering less than 30 shots for the 18th straight game. They outshot Minnesota by 35, a club record.
Colorado has won its last five games, ending Minnesota’s five-game winning streak in the process.
“We were going through a lot of injuries and sometimes it takes a little bit to get your mojo going as a group,” Landeskog said of his team’s recent success. “To start the season, we played well one night and couldn’t really duplicate that effort so we were kind of up and down.”
With less than a minute left in the first period, Rantanen put the Avalanche up 2-0. The forward skated to the front of the net and tipped in a pass from defenseman Sam Girard past goalie Cam Talbot. Rantanen, who had a game-high four points, scored again in the third period to make it 5-1. MacKinnon and Landeskog also had multi-point games (goal, two assists, each).
“We’ve been playing together for four or five years, consistently,” MacKinnon said of his line. “If anything, this year has been more challenging offensively than in years past. Every game we have so many chances.”
The Avs dominated nearly the entire game. In the second, the Wild got on the board thanks to a nice individual effort from forward Victor Rask on the power play. His tally made it 2-1 and the Wild got another power-play opportunity moments later with hopes of tying the game.
The penalty killers for the Avs denied them a goal on that chance and two more later in the game. Colorado entered the game with the league’s second-best penalty kill (87.7 percent).
Byram did not find the scoresheet in his return, but his presence was felt physically. Byram and Minnesota’s much bigger forward Jordan Greenway were tangled up in front of Grubauer. The young defenseman was taken down to the ice but drew an extra two minutes for roughing from Greenway, sending the Avs to the power play, where Landeskog scored to make it 3-1.
“It’s good to see Bo back on the ice and back playing with us,” Landeskog said. “It’s definitely good to see him get involved physically in scrums like that. That’s just the way we play the game. If somebody comes after your goalie or one of your teammates you step in and that’s what Bo did.”
Makar played 19:13 in his return and assumed his role as the top power-play unit quarterback.
Landeskog passes Cody McLeod: Landeskog appeared in his 659th career game with the Avalanche, tying former Avs forward Cody Mcleod for fourth-most in club history.
‘It’s crazy when you think about it,” Landeskog said. “Fivers was here for a long time and I played with him for a long time.”