Avs’ hot streak hits 7th heaven
Nathan MacKinnon kept up his torrid home scoring with a goal, Jonathan Bernier stopped 33 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Anaheim Ducks, 3-1, yesterday in Denver for their seventh straight win.
Matt Nieto and Colin Wilson also scored for the Avs, who are outscoring opponents 29-10 during their longest win streak since the 2005-06 season. MacKinnon leads the league in scoring on home ice this season with 41 points (15 goals and 26 assists) in 24 games.
Bernier has been sensational since stepping in with Semyon Varlamov sidelined by a lower-body injury. Bernier came up big midway through the second period when he reached out with his stick to thwart Ryan Kesler. That set up a rush the other way, with MacKinnon scoring on a wrist shot past Ryan Miller.
Chris Wagner of Norfolk had a goal in the second period for Anaheim. It was his first goal since Nov.27.
Anaheim pulled Miller with around 3 minutes remaining, but couldn’t get anything by Bernier, who played for Anaheim last season.
The Ducks were without forward Andrew Cogliano as he served the first of a two-game suspension that ended his consecutive games streak at 830, the fourth-longest in NHL history. He was suspended for an interference penalty against Los Angeles forward Adrian Kempe on Saturday.
Islanders 5, Canadiens 4 — John Tavares scored his second goal of the game 1:51 into overtime to lift New York over host Montreal.
Mathew Barzal, coming off his second five-point game of the season, had a goal and two assists to keep up his scoring binge for New York. Anthony Beauvillier and Adam Pelech also scored to help the Islanders win their third straight after a season-high five-game losing streak. Thomas Greiss finished with a career-high 52 saves. Sharks 4, Kings 1 — Chris Tierney had a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones made 35 saves in visiting San Jose’s third straight victory over rival Los Angeles.
Barclay Goodrow and Mikkel Boedker ended lengthy goal droughts for the Sharks, who built a three-goal lead.
Dylan DeMelo returned from a three-game injury absence with two assists for his second career multipoint game. Joonas Donskoi also had two assists, and Joe Thornton added an empty-net goal.
Elsewhere in the NHL — The Vegas Golden Knights have signed defenseman Deryk Engelland to a $1.5 million, one-year contract extension. The 35-year-old Engelland is a longtime Las Vegas resident and was picked from the Calgary Flames during the expansion draft.