Rantanen leads Avs past Flyers

PHILADELPHIA — Mikko Rantanen had two goals, Matt Nieto and Gabriel Landeskog also scored, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Monday.

The Avalanche continued their earlyseason hot streak and finished 3-0-1 on their four-game road trip. 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.

The Flyers continued to push their rookie mascot Gritty, giving out T-shirts and running fun facts (“Gritty has been known to use the express lane at the grocery story even when he buys more than 15 items”) on the big screen of the furry fan favorite. But the frivolity can’t mask the problems Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov gloves a shot on goal as the Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds screens during the second period Monday in Philadelphia.

for a Flyers’ team that suffered its third home loss of the season and continued to struggle in the defensive zone.

Rantanen needed only 3:23 to beat Brian Elliott for his third goal of the season and the quick lead. Nathan 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: 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 the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Detroit Red Wings. Defenseman Justin Faulk also scored for the Hurricanes, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Faulk also made a crucial block on a shot with less than five minutes left. Jordan Martinook added an empty-net goal. Petr Mrazek, who was drafted by Detroit in 2010 and played a number of seasons with the Red wings, made 20 saves. JETS 5, BLUES 4 (OT): The Blues kept their threegame trip from being a total disaster, but they let a chance for even more get away when they failed to hold another two-goal lead and lost to Winnipeg in overtime at Bell MTS Place. The Blues managed three points in the three games that started with Colton Parayko’s costly giveaway in Montreal that cost them at least one point. The Blues bounced back with a 4-1 win in Toronto and twice had two-goal leads against Winnipeg, one of the favorites in the Central Division and a team that beat the Blues 5-1 on opening night.