Rantanen leads Avs to win
Carolina tops Detroit to end losing streak
PHILADELPHIA — Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog are the top line in Colorado — and right now, the NHL.
Rantanen had two goals, Matt Nieto and Landeskog also scored, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Monday night.
The Avalanche continued their early-season hot streak and finished 3-0-1 on their four-game road trip.
“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’ll be fine if the top line keeps producing like this. Landeskog had a hat trick on the trip against New Jersey and clinched this one with his eighth goal of the season early in the third period.
Semyon Varlamov was solid in net and stopped 37 shots.
Rantanen needed only 3:23 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. HURRICANES 3, RED WINGS 1: In Detroit, Michael Ferland scored in his fourth straight game and Sebastian Aho had an assist and set a franchise record for points in consecutive games to start a season as Carolina snapped a three-game losing streak.
Defenseman Justin Faulk also scored, and Jordan Martinook added an empty-net goal for the Hurricanes.
Petr Mrazek, who was drafted by Detroit in 2010 and played a number of seasons with the Red wings, made 20 saves.
Sebastian assisted on Ferland’s second-period goal. The assist stretched his season-opening points streak to nine games (four goals and 10 assists), surpassing the franchise record of eight by Victor Rask (2016-17).
JETS 5, BLUES 4, OT: In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Bryan Little tied it late in the third period and Jacob Trouba scored in overtime to help Winnipeg overcome a two-goal deficit.
Trouba took a pass from Kyle Connor and shot into an open side of the net behind goalie Jake Allen. It was Trouba’s first goal of the season.
Mark Scheifele scored twice and Ben Chiarot added a goal Winnipeg.
Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists for St. Louis, and David Perron, Vince Dunn and Colton Parayko also scored.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for Winnipeg (6-2-1), which has points in five straight games (4-0-1).
Allen stopped 31 shots for the Blues (2-3-3), who finished a three-game trip (1-1-1) through Canada. CAPITALS 5, CANUCKS 2: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Alex Ovechkin had two goals and two assists to lift Washington over Vancouver.
The defending Stanley Cup champions also got goals from John Carlson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie.
Troy Stecher and Sven Baertschi scored for the Canucks (5-4-0).
Braden Holtby stopped 22 shots for Washington (4-2-2), while Vancouver’s Anders Nilsson turned away 28.
The Capitals were first on the scoreboard, notching a goal during four-onfour play 2:20 into the game.
Carlson scored 2:20 into the game and Stecher tied it early in the second before Kuznetsov’s power-play goal made it 2-1 midway through the second.
Ovechkin extended the lead with 26 seconds left in the period. His line peppered Nilsson with shots, and the Canucks goalie managed to stop a blast from Nicklas Backstom, but couldn’t contain the rebound. The puck bounced off Ovechkin and into the net.