Mikko Rantanen had his third hat trick of the season to reach 52 goals for the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday.New York Rangers Tröja 2023
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and three assists, Ben Meyers scored twice, and Alexandar Georgiev made 21 saves for the Avalanche (47-24-6), who have won six of seven, including 4-3 in overtime here Tuesday.
Colorado is tied with the Dallas Stars, who defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 earlier Thursday, for first in the Central Division with a game in hand. It moved two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild, who lost 4-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist to increase his season total to 98 points for the Sharks (22-40-16), who had a four-game point streak end (3-0-1). Kaapo Kahkonen allowed four goals on 19 shots before being pulled 8:06 into the second period. James Reimer made 10 saves in relief.
Karlsson gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 15:43 of the first period, scoring from the slot on a rebound of Kevin Labanc's shot from the blue line.
Rantanen tied it 1-1 at 16:45 on the rebound of a shot by MacKinnon, who skated between two defenders for a backhand. It was his 50th goal of the season.
Rantanen put the Avalanche ahead 2-1 at 2:32 of the second period when Evan Rodrigues carried the puck from behind the net and passed to Rantanen, who scored on a backhand.
MacKinnon extended the lead to 3-1 at 7:19 before Rantanen completed his sixth NHL hat trick to make it 4-1 at 8:06.Steven Lorentz cut it to 4-2 at 8:41 with an angled shot from the left following a Karlsson pass from the high slot.Billiga Ishockey Tröjor
Meyers made it 5-2 when Matt Nieto stole the puck in the neutral zone and Meyers shot five-hole from the slot.Alex Newhook sent a cross from the right that went in off Meyers skate at the left post at 3:12 of the third period for the 6-2 final.
