Goalie Pavel Francouz had 37 saves on Friday and Nathan MacKinnon put up a goal and an assist to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Francouz has 69 saves over the past two games and came within a few minutes of a shutout on both nights, only to be foiled by late goals.
On Friday, he made 15 saves in the third period to preserve a lead and help the Avalanche extend their points streak to nine games.
Photo: AP
“It was one of those nights when the puck is just hitting you and you can enjoy the time,” Francouz said. “My teammates played pretty well in front of me so that helped a lot.”
The Devils pulled forward Taylor Hall from the lineup just before the game for precautionary reasons, the team said.
Hall, who leads New Jersey in scoring with 25 points, has been the subject of trade rumors of late and was not held out due to injury.
“Management decision,” interim head coach Alain Nasreddine said. “The guys reacted well. I told them we got a job to do, got to go out and perform. There’s two points on the line and that’s where our focus should be. I thought the guys came out ready to play. It’s big news — I’m not going to lie. It’s big news when one of the top players in the league is not dressing for your team.”
Devils goalie Louis Domingue had 15 saves on 17 shots before leaving midway through the second period due to a lower-body injury. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped all 20 shots that he faced as the relief goalie.
Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin also had goals for the Avalanche, who won despite what coach Jared Bednar called “sloppy play.”
“Our puck play, it was so poor,” Bednar said. “We would work, get the puck, give it back to them and get it back. We were doing that all night. We found a way to win. I’m not going to get upset after wins.”
The Avalanche moved back to the top of the Western Conference standings with their eighth win in nine games. Their only loss in that stretch came in overtime, and they earned five of a possible six points on the homestand.
The Devils are 0-6-1 over their past seven games and 2-9-1 since a modest two-game winning streak in the middle of last month.
Landeskog gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead when he beat Domingue with a one-timer from the slot at 11 minutes, 37 seconds into the first period. Nichushkin extended the lead with his sixth goal of the season at 7:56 into the second period.
Nichushkin went 91 games without a goal and now has six in the past 10 games. He also has a career-best four-game points streak.
Francouz was closing in on the shutout when Mirco Mueller scored at 15:48 to make it a one-goal game.
The Devils pulled Blackwood in the final minute and MacKinnon scored an empty-net goal — his 20th of the season — at 19:28 to ice it.
He is third in the NHL in scoring with 50 points, and the fourth player in Avalanche history to have 20 or more goals and 30 or more assists in the first 32 games.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, STARS 2
Max Pacioretty on Friday scored on a backhander 51 seconds into overtime to give the Las Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.
The Stars’ Jamie Benn tied it with 5 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the third period. He worked a give-and-go, passing from behind the net to Tyler Seguin and then skating into the slot to deflect Seguin’s return pass past goalie Malcolm Subban.
Taylor Fedun put the Stars ahead 1-0 in the first period.
The Golden Knights took a 2-1 lead in the second period on goals by William Karlsson and Chandler Stephenson.
Golden Knights goalie Subban made 28 saves for his first victory in three career games against the Stars.
Stars goalie Ben Bishop stopped 28 shots. The Stars had won three in a row and 10-of-11 at home.
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