Mackinnon, Georgiev help Avalanche cruise to much-needed win

How much it might matter if these teams meet during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs is debatable, but the Colorado Avalanche has now played three of its best games of the season against the Dallas Stars.

Nathan Mackinnon had a goal and an assist to help the Avalanche cruise past the Stars Tuesday. Andrew Cogliano also had a goal and an assist, while Alexandar Georgiev outplayed his Dallas counterpart Jake Oettinger in a 5-1 victory.

Dallas lost in overtime Monday night, so Colorado was the more rested team. It didn’t look like it early in the second period, but then Avalanche put this one away with three goals on just six shots in the middle frame.

Mackinnon is now 29-for-29 with at least one point in every home game. He’s now two shy of his second career 100-point campaign.

The Stars had chances to tie this contest at two early in the second period. Dallas had the first seven shots of the period, but Georgiev kept the Stars at bay, and then Colorado blew it open with two goals in 49 seconds.

Cogliano led a 2-on-1 out of a scrum in the neutral zone, but decided to keep it himself and snapped a shot over Oettinger’s left shoulder. Mackinnon got behind the defense and flipped a backhanded attempt over Oettinger’s right shoulder on the next shift and it was suddenly a 4-1 lead.

Colorado’s power play has struggled of late, and it looked out of sync again for about 50 seconds during the Avs’ first opportunity. Then magic happened.

It started with a nifty zone entry, Mackinnon wheeling the puck to Jonathan Drouin to gain the blue line. He left it for Mikko Rantanen, and eventually Artturi Lehkonen finished a perfect tictac-toe passing play, with Drouin authoring a brilliant one-touch pass to set up the score.

Dallas scored on the first shot of the game, exactly 60 seconds in. Rookie Logan Stankoven collected his second career goal on a feed from fellow 2021 draft pick Wyatt Johnston. Georgiev responded by stopping the next 33 shots.

The Avalanche answered two shifts later. Joel Kiviranta slapped a one-timer on a cross-ice pass from Cogliano at 2:08 of the first period.

Colorado grabbed the lead before the period was six minutes old with a tenacious shift from the top line. All three forwards had a shot attempt in a span of six seconds, with Rantanen tapping the rebound of Mackinnon’s second shot in the flurry across the goal line. Cale Makar had an assist on Mackinnon’s goal to give him 308 career points.