Nazem Kadri scored two power-play goals 1:06 apart in the first period, Nathan MacKinnon scored his NHL-leading 49th goal and added two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche routed the Calgary Flames 9-2 in Denver on Monday night.
Parker Kelly and Jack Drury had a goal and two assists each and Gabriel Landeskog also scored in a five-goal first period for Colorado. Martin Necas also had a goal and two assists, and Sam Malinski and Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist each for the Avalanche, who snapped a four-game home losing streak.
Colorado defenseman Cale Makar had three assists but didn’t play in the third period due to an upper-body injury suffered late in the second.
Brock Nelson contributed two helpers and Scott Wedgewood turned away 27 shots for the Avalanche (49-14-10, 108 points), who increased their lead to eight points over Dallas for the NHL lead.
Brennan Othmann and Ryan Strome scored for Calgary and Devin Cooley made 28 saves after replacing Dustin Wolf midway through the first period. The Flames (31-35-8, 70 points) had won five of six.
Kadri played three-plus seasons for Calgary before being dealt to the Avalanche three weeks ago. He helped Colorado win the 2022 Stanley Cup and signed as a free agent with the Flames that offseason and then hurt his former team Monday night.
Drury got the Avalanche going when he banked a shot off of Wolf 2:31 into the game. Calgary took minor penalties 40 seconds apart, giving Colorado a 5-on-3, and Kadri scored his first of the night 23 seconds into the two-man advantage. He made it 3-0 at 7:37.
Landeskog continued the onslaught at 9:19, ending Wolf’s night after allowing four goals on 16 shots.
Kelly made it 5-0 when he redirected Makar’s shot from the point at 15:50, his career-best 18th goal of the season.
Othmann scored 3:37 into the second period and MacKinnon had a power-play goal at 19:25 to restore the five-goal lead. Necas and Malinski scored 1:46 apart early in the third period, Strome answered at 12:53 and Lehkonen finished the scoring at 16:48.
