The Avalanche continued their dominance on the road, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators 3-2 on consecutive nights. The Avs have won their last eight games on the road, a new franchise record.
Colorado (39-18-7) led 2-0 in both games and did not surrender a goal through 40 minutes to win its sixth straight game.
On Friday, forward Tyson Jost scored the first two goals, his first in 36 games, to give the Avs a 2-0 lead. The Hurricanes fought back in the third period as Teuvo Teravainen scored twice to tie the game.
Colorado regained the lead with 2:30 remaining after Sam Girard received a pass from captain Gabe Landeskog and wristed it past goalie Anton Forsberg.
On Saturday, Landeskog and rookie Martin Kaut scored the first two goals and Erik Johnson added an empty-net goal to give the Avs a 3-1 lead. Predators forward Calle Jarnkrok added a goal with one second remaining to make it 3-2.
Takeaways
Francouz is on fire. The best NHL goalie in the month of March has backstopped the Avalanche to six straight wins, four on the road. Pavel Francouz has started all seven games since Grubauer’s injury. He ranks second in the NHL in save percentage (0.929) and fourth in goals-against average (2.24).
Colorado continues to lead the league in scoring first. The Avalanche have scored the first goal of the game in each of their last three games and a league-leading 42 times this season. Colorado has won 30 of those games.
Depth scoring continues to lead the way. While Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon has registered just three assists during the winning streak, the depth forwards continue to step up and lead the way. Kaut and Jost have combined for four goals and Colorado’s blueline has added two more.
Next up
Colorado travels to Detroit to close out its three-game road trip against the Red Wings on Monday.