Surging Avalanche score early in victory over Ducks

Gabriel Landeskog scored his first goal in more than three years, Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist, and the surging Colorado Avalanche beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in Denver on Tuesday night.

Martin Necas and Parker Kelly also scored, Nathan MacKinnon had three assists for his third straight multi-point game and Scott Wedgewood turned away 35 shots for Colorado.

The Avalanche have won four in a row and six of their last seven and lead the NHL with 27 points.

Leo Carlsson extended his points streak to 11 games with a goal and Lukas Dostal made 32 saves for Anaheim. The Ducks had their seven-game winning streak snapped.

MacKinnon (32 points) and Carlsson (26) are the top two scorers in the league.

Colorado struck within the first minute of the game. Anaheim turned the puck over in its own zone and the Avalanche worked it around. Cale Makar sent a pass to MacKinnon, who fed Lehkonen in the right circle. His one-timer beat Dostal 28 seconds in.

MacKinnon has at least one point in 10 straight games.

The Ducks tied it late in the first when Jacob Trouba curled a pass to Carlsson as he crashed the net, and Carlsson knocked it by Wedgewood at 18:16.

Both goaltenders came up big midway through the second period. Wedgewood stretched out to stop Troy Terry's backhander and a few minutes later Dostal made a glove save on Makar's wrister from the slot.

Moments later, Landeskog scored his first regular-season goal since March 5, 2022. Sam Malinski broke his stick on a shot from the point and it went to Valeri Nichushkin, who put a shot on Dostal. The rebound dropped in front of the crease and Landeskog poked it past Dostal at 11:37.

Landeskog had two goals waved off earlier in the season.

Necas gave Colorado a two-goal advantage on the power play when he was on the end of a double deflection at 7:02 of the third period.

Dostal came off for an extra skater with 3:27 left and Kelly sealed it with an empty-net goal at 17:39.

--Field Level Media