Artturi Lehkonen scored his first career hat trick, and Nathan MacKinnon added three assists to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Utah Hockey Club 4-1 on Friday in Salt Lake City.
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who signed a five-year, $26.25 million contract extension with Colorado that same day, made 34 saves to secure his fourth win in five starts since joining the team.
Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Avalanche, who have won four straight games and eight of their last 10.
Nick Schmaltz scored the only goal for Utah, which has now gone winless in its last three games (0-2-1) and dropped to 5-7-4 at home. Goalie Karel Vejmelka stopped 33 shots.
With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, Lehkonen broke a 1-1 tie by scoring his second goal of the night. After Valeri Nichushkin’s shot was saved, Lehkonen was there to score on the rebound and put Colorado ahead.
Nichushkin’s assist extended his point streak to five games, during which he has tallied four goals and two assists.
Rantanen sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 1:50 left, his 20th of the season. Rantanen is also on a 10-game point streak, recording five goals and 13 assists during that time.
Lehkonen finished the scoring with another empty-net goal in the final minute, bringing his total to 13 goals for the season.
Despite the final 3-goal margin, the Avalanche had to recover from giving up a third-period lead.
Lehkonen opened the scoring at 11:52 of the second period. Sam Malinski passed to MacKinnon, who then found Lehkonen in the slot for the goal.
Schmaltz tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal at 3:42 of the third period. He tipped Mikhail Sergachev’s point shot past Blackwood.
The game saw some heated moments, especially in the second period when MacKinnon and Barrett Hayton fought, which is rare for both players.
