Panthers bring balanced scoring attack to matchup with Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche had their six-game winning streak snapped Saturday night, but they still managed to get a point out of the 2-1 shootout loss to Montreal.

They will try to start another streak when they wrap up their four-game homestand against the Florida Panthers on Monday night in Denver.

Florida is beginning a quick, two-game road trip through Colorado and Utah and playing four of its next five games on the road. The Panthers have lost three of their last five heading to Colorado after a 3-2 shootout win over visiting Pittsburgh on Friday night.

The reigning Stanley Cup champions are led by center Sam Reinhart, who tops the team in points (46), goals (22) and assists (24). Matthew Tkachuk (14 goals, 22 assists), Aleksander Barkov (11, 24) and Sam Bennett (13, 14) have also powered Florida's offense.

The Panthers leaned on Sergei Bobrovsky en route to their first Stanley Cup title last spring, and he continues to be the team's No. 1 goaltender. But they are also getting quality starts from backup Spencer Knight, who has a 2.80 goals-against average, nearly identical to Bobrovsky's 2.79.

Knight (29 saves) was in net for the win over the Penguins and earned the praise of his coach and teammates.

"Knight was so, so good for us," Tkachuk said. "Incredible saves. Incredible saves in the third. ... We needed him, being on a back-to-back. He was by far the difference for us. In the shootout, he made so many incredible saves."

The Avalanche have gotten good goaltending from their tandem of Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, going 8-2-1 since both joined the team. Wedgewood is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks after suffering a right leg injury against Buffalo on Thursday night.

Coach Jared Bednar said Saturday that Wedgewood did not suffer a high-ankle sprain, so his time on the injured list shouldn't be long. Trent Miner will serve as the backup until Wedgewood returns.

Blackwood was solid in the loss to the Canadiens, making big saves in the third period and overtime before allowing two goals in the shootout. He is 6-1-1 with a 1.78 goals-against average in his eight games with Colorado, seven of those starts.

The offense in front of him was lacking Saturday night, but Mikko Rantanen was able to extend his points streak to 13 with the team's lone goal and ended the night third in the NHL in scoring with 57 points (23 goals, 34 assists).

His scoring streak is the second-longest in the NHL this season, one behind Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl (14).

"He's been phenomenal," Bednar said of Rantanen. "He's one of those one-shot goal scorers. When you need a big goal, you've got a guy that can score from all kinds of areas on that side of the ice."

Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon is leading the league with 65 points (14 goals, NHL-best 51 assists) and teammate Cale Makar leads all defensemen with 49 points (13 goals, 36 assists).

--Field Level Media