Avalanche score 5 in third, hammer Ducks

Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals, Joel Kiviranta had a goal and two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche buried the Anaheim Ducks 8-2 in Denver on Wednesday night.

Samuel Girard and Devon Toews had a goal and an assist each, Ross Colton, Fredrik Olofsson and Andrew Cogliano also scored, and Alexandar Georgiev turned away 15 shots for Colorado.

Cale Makar added three assists and Nathan MacKinnon, Logan O'Connor and Jack Johnson had two assists each for the Avalanche.

Sam Carrick and Max Jones scored and Lukas Dostal had 30 saves for Anaheim.

Colorado jumped out to an early lead when Girard skated in on Dostal and was able to lift a rebound by the goaltender at 6:40 of the first period.

It was his first of the season.

Nichushkin made it 2-0 when he tipped in Toews' shot from the point at 12:40 of the first.

The Ducks struggled to put pucks on the net but made one of them count late in the first. Radko Gudas lasered a shot from the point that Carrick tipped by Georgiev at 19:27 for his fourth goal of the season. It was just the Ducks' second shot on net in the period.

The Avalanche nearly scored a short-handed goal in the second period while Mikko Rantanen was serving a double minor but Dostal made a save on O'Connor. Anaheim's Pavel Mintyukov took a holding minor on the play.

Colorado eventually did score when O'Connor fed Olofsson in the slot and he wristed it by Dostal at 14:33 of the second period. It was his second of the season.

The Avalanche put it away with two goals in less than two minutes early in the third. Colton made it 4-1 at 3:53, his fifth of the season, then Nichushkin got his second of the game on the power play at 5:51.

It was also his fifth of the season.

Jones got one back when he scored his first of the season at 9:41 but Kiviranta and Cogliano scored 21 seconds apart to make it 7-2. It was the first goal of the season for both players.

Toews capped the five-goal third with his second of the season at 15:18.

—Field Level Media