Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog are the top line in Colorado — and right now, the NHL.
Rantanen on Monday had two goals, and Matt Nieto and Landeskog also scored as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1.
The Avalanche continued their early-season hot streak and finished 3-0-1 on their four-game road trip.
Photo: AFP
“We know that we have to be better than we were last year on the road. It’s a focus of ours,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We don’t feel like there’s any reason we can’t play the way we do at home out on the road, even though there’s some tougher circumstances.”
They will be fine if the top line keeps producing like this.
Landeskog had a hat-trick against New Jersey and clinched this one with his eighth goal of the season early in the third period.
“I’ve had a lot of fun in the NHL, but no doubt we’re getting some production, and we’re playing well and creating a lot of chances,” Landeskog said.
Semyon Varlamov was solid in net and stopped 37 shots.
The Flyers continued to push their rookie mascot Gritty, giving out T-shirts and running fun facts on the big screen: “Gritty has been known to use the express lane at the grocery story even when he buys more than 15 items.”
However, that frivolity cannot mask the problems for a Flyers’ team that suffered their third home loss of the season and continued to struggle in the defensive zone.
“I think it took us getting down to come to life there and I think, especially in our home building, we got to come on strong and we got to sync more,” Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said.
Rantanen needed only 3 minutes, 23 seconds to beat Brian Elliott for his third goal of the season and the quick lead.
MacKinnon set up Rantanen for the power-play score and they became the first players in franchise history with concurrent nine-game point streaks to start the season.
Nieto was left open on the left side to score his first goal of the season in the second period.
Flyers captain Claude Giroux lost the puck in the offensive zone and Landeskog capitalized with a breakaway goal for a 3-0 lead.
The fans chanted for Gritty.
The best they got was a slapper from Nolan Patrick to cut it to 3-1.
“You see the way we play when we get down, we dominate the game,” Patrick said. “That’s kind of something we need to do for a full 60 minutes. We can’t just wait until we’re down to start making a push like that. We’re capable of so much more.”
The Avalanche continued to get production from perhaps the best top line in the NHL.
MacKinnon has a goal in seven of nine games, while his eight even-strength goals lead the NHL.
Rantanen is in the top five in scoring, while Landeskog has been a dominant goal-scorer.
Rantanen added an unassisted empty-netter in the final 90 seconds to squash any thought of a Flyers’ comeback.
“He [Rantanen] put up almost 90 points last year and he is off to a good start this year, and it seems like he is still not getting the recognition he deserves,” Landeskog said. “That’s fine with us, we’ll take that. He’s going to be stud in this league for a long time.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB