Nathan MacKinnon's huge night helps Avalanche shake off rough road trip to defeat Lightning, 6-3

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Oct 24, 2026

Published in Hockey

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DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon doesn’t often have back-to-back off nights, but his response looked familiar.

MacKinnon had a goal and three assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche shake off a poor two-game road trip with a convincing 6-3 win Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena.

The Avs took a big lead early, but two Lightning goals and a power play as the third period began gave the visitors a chance. Colorado killed that one off, then MacKinnon went to work. Artturi Lehkonen took a pass near center ice and flicked it on to a hard-charging MacKinnon, who blew by everyone and scored his seventh goal of the season 4:18 into the final period.

This was MacKinnon’s 45th game with three-plus assists. He’s now tied with Joe Sakic for third in franchise history. Peter Stastny is first with 47, while Peter Forsberg is next with 46.

It came after back-to-back losses in Philadelphia and New Jersey, which Avs coach Jared Bednar called two of the worst games Colorado has played in years. MacKinnon didn’t have a point in either loss, and until the final period in Newark hadn’t had close to his typical impact on the proceedings.

Devon Toews put the Avs in front just 68 seconds into this one. Martin Necas received a pass from MacKinnon in a good shooting position in the right circle but sent the puck back to the left wing for Toews for a wide-open shot and his third goal of the season. That matches his total from last season.

Nazem Kadri made it a 2-0 advantage with a power-play goal at 5:52. T.J. Hughes held the puck along the goal line to the right of Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for nearly five seconds before slipping it to Kadri inside the left circle for a one-timer and his first goal of the season. Hughes now has a point in three of his past four games.

Fedor Svechkov pushed Colorado’s lead to 3-0 on the opening shift of the second period. He tried to send the puck across to Logan O’Connor, making his season debut, on a 2-on-1. It was deflected upwards, and Svechkov backhanded it out of the air into the net for his second goal of the year.

Jake Guentzel scored twice for Tampa Bay in the middle period. The first involved a very fortuitous bounce.

Charlie-Edouard D’Astous’ shot from the right point on the power play went off Brock Nelson’s stick in front of Blackwood and right to Guentzel near the left post for a tap-in at 8:13.

Lehkonen made it a 4-1 lead at 13:57 of the period after MacKinnon set him up near the inside of the left circle for a one-timer. It was the ninth goal in 11 games for Lehkonen, which is the most for anyone who is a pending unrestricted free agent.

Guentzel’s second goal was technically not a power-play tally, but it came just as an Avs penalty expired with 43 seconds remaining in the period. Colorado challenged for a missed stoppage during Tampa Bay’s long offensive-zone possession, but after a long review the goal remained — and gave the visitors another power play for the failed challenge.