The Colorado Avalanche pummeled the Florida Panther in a 6–2 victory on Thursday night. Florida looked like they were tired, and they also had their backup goaltender Daniil Tarasov in net. Colorado came into the game and was buzzing through the neutral zone without a problem. The Avalanche had different players score all six goals, with Gavin Brindley picking up right where he left off. Colorado is the first team in the NHL to reach the 50-point mark (51 actually), gaining breathing room over the Dallas Stars with their loss. Unfortunately, the victory cost them forward Joel Kiviranta as he never came out to play after the first intermission.

View from the Mountaintop

Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal and also had an assist on Thursday night. The goal, which was his league-leading 25th of the season, helped him set a record for the Avalanche. It was MacKinnon’s 392nd career goal, allowing him to pass Joe Sakic for most Avalanche goals. To be clear, this is not a franchise goals record; it is since the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995–96. In the franchise record, MacKinnon is third in the team’s history behind Michel Goulet (451) and Joe Sakic (625). MacKinnon still has five years left on his contract that he signed on September 20, 2022.

Gavin Brindley returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a lower-body injury. Zakhar Bardakov, the unfortunate player, sat, allowing room. Brindley then had an immediate impact. Brindley rolled into the lineup on the third line wing, and his speed was a threat the entire game down the middle of the ice. He was constantly leading plays out of the zone and had a gorgeous pass to Artturi Lehkonen in the second. Brent Burns would provide Brindley with some help for him to net his goal as well.

Colorado took advantage that Florida was on the back end of a back-to-back. While the Panthers were dragging their feet, the Avalanche were well-rested. Throughout the first and second periods, Colorado used the stretch pass to exit the zone quickly. They knew that there was no chance the Panthers would not have the legs to catch up on any breakaways. Brindley, Lehkonen and MacKinnon were players who took advantage of the situation the most. Twelve skaters had at least one point, with five of them tallying two points.

Up Next

The Avalanche will take on the Nashville Predators once again on Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT. Altitude Sports and KTVD My20 will broadcast the game.