Avalanche defeat Lightning in shootout, end three-game skid

TAMPA --Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-3 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Cale Makar scored the winner in the sixth round of the shootout after Darcy Kuemper made the save on Anthony Cirelli.
"I just saw that [Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy] wasn't really down yet," Makar said. "I just tried to throw it in the five-hole and it did something a little weird."
Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist, Mikko Rantanen scored, and Kuemper made 29 saves for the Avalanche (2-3-0), who ended a three-game losing streak.
"We had to play some desperate hockey here because you need the points," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "You just can't afford in this league to not be carving points out on a regular basis, and we haven't done this so far. Tonight I thought we played with real good purpose, we were definitely a more connected group."

Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, and Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for the Lightning (2-2-1), who are 0-2-1 at home this season.
"I like a lot of things I saw tonight," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. "We took way too many penalties (seven). We can control that.
"If we win the shootout, there's probably a whole different vibe in this room. We didn't win the skill contest tonight. There were a lot of times in that game that I thought we did really well."
Landeskog gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 9:02 of the first period when he jammed in a rebound at the right post after MacKinnon threw the puck on net from a sharp angle.
Mathieu Joseph tied it 1-1 at 6:34 of the second period, knocking in a loose puck with his backhand after Cirelli whiffed on a one-timer.
"Cirelli was there late and the puck got to me," Joseph said. "Great play by [Alex Killorn] to find Cirelli, and luckily it went in.
"We could have had a couple more tonight that didn't go our way. Sometimes you need greasy goals. It's not an easy league to score in."

Rantanen put the Avalanche ahead 2-1 at 11:51 of the second with a one-timer off a pass from MacKinnon on a 2-on-1.
"Our guys got a little reward for doing things right and working as hard as they did," Bednar said. "And you've got to get that reward once in a while."
Stamkos tied it 2-2 at 3:44 of the third period when Ondrej Palat's turnaround shot off a rebound redirected in off his skate.
"Penalties killed us today, ruined the flow of the game," Stamkos said. "Again, it's process over outcome, we've talked about that all the time. It wasn't a bad effort. We found a way to get a point."

MacKinnon gave the Avalanche their third lead of the game when he scored his first of the season with a one-timer on the power play at 9:50.
"It's only the third game through the year, but it felt like a lot more," said MacKinnon, who missed Colorado's first two games because of COVID-19 protocol. "It's always nice to get that zero gone. You can say all the right things, blah, blah, blah, but you want to score goals. I'd be lying saying it doesn't feel good to get the zero gone."

Brayden Point tied it 3-3 at 17:25 after the Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra attacker.
With the secondary assist on the goal, Stamkos passed Vincent Lecavalier for second place in points in Tampa Bay history (875; 443 goals, 432 assists). Martin St. Louis holds the record with 953.
"Any time you're in some categories with [Lecavalier and St. Louis], it's pretty remarkable," Stamkos said. "They are two pillars of this organization. I'm proud to be in this jersey for a long time, hopefully a long time more to continue to help our team win."
NOTES:Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard left the game in overtime following a hit into the boards by Stamkos. "I haven't had a chance to look at it and haven't had a chance to talk with Sam or the trainers either," Bednar said. … The Lightning are 0-for-11 on the power play since Nikita Kucherov sustained a lower-body injury in a 2-1 overtime win against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 16.