Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche keep white-hot start rolling with home win against Canucks

An early deficit and an unplanned goaltending change wasn t nearly enough to slow down the Colorado Avalanche The Avs continued to mash their way through the early part of this schedule with a - mastery Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks at Ball Arena Nathan MacKinnon scored twice to continue his historic start to this season Gabe Landeskog had a pair of assists and the Avs are now - - five points ahead of their rivals the Dallas Stars and clear of the rest of the NHL Colorado now has at least a point in straight games - - and pushed its NHL-best goal differential to plus- more than double the next-best in the league the Stars at plus- This championship was not without specific adversity Starting goaltender Scott Wedgewood left during the second period with what the association called an upper-body injury and did not return Mackenzie Blackwood made saves and collected the win because the challenge was tied when he entered Vancouver grabbed an early when Linus Karlsson got behind the Avs and was able to deke his way to slick goal just into the opening period The Canucks didn t create very a large number of dangerous chances after that through the next two periods MacKinnon scored his first of the night with seconds left in the opening period Devon Toews snuck down in the slot and tipped Sam Malinski s shot from the right point That was just enough to prevent Kevin Lankinen from handling it cleanly and MacKinnon was there in the left circle to pounce on the rebound Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin right pursues the puck with Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tom Willander and center Max Sasson left in the first period of an NHL hockey match Tuesday Dec in Denver AP Photo David Zalubowski Valeri Nichushkin returned to the lineup after missing eight games but not to his customary place on the second line That trio had a strong night and produced Colorado s go-ahead goal at of the second period Landeskog fed Brock Nelson who had slipped behind Vancouver center Max Sasson cutting to the net for his ninth goal of the season Nelson now has six goals and points in his past games Landeskog also has points five goals in the past games after he began this comeback campaign with no goals and four assists in the first contests MacKinnon struck again in the final minute of the second He replaced Nelson during a prolonged line change and Landeskog fed him in the right circle for a one-timer with seconds remaining in the period Related Articles Another sign of this Colorado Avalanche gang s dominance It kept rolling without Valeri Nichushkin Shots on goal are harder to come by in the NHL these days but not for the Colorado Avalanche Brock Nelson Gabe Landeskog lead Avalanche rout of Canadiens in - win Avalanche s Nathan MacKinnon Brent Burns share passion for training off-ice work I ve already learned a lot from him Renck File Rockies Paul DePodesta keeping Warren Schaeffer looks bad But here s why it makes sense That is goals this season in games for MacKinnon the second-most in franchise history and easily the the greater part since the unit moved to Denver His points are also the second-most in franchise history and the the bulk since the club came to the base of the Front Range Colorado has now outscored its opponents - at -on- when MacKinnon is on the ice an outrageous margin that helps define just how dominant the league MVP and this Avalanche unit has been Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis