Sens shut out as Avalanche bury Ottawa 7-0
Mikko Rantanen, Artturi Lehkonen and Alex Newhook each scored twice, Pavel Francouz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season and the Colorado Avalanche routed the Ottawa Senators 7-0 on Saturday night.
Rantanen scored his 28th and 29th goals to break Joe Sakic's 27-year-old team record for goals at the halfway point of the regular season.
"He wants to make an impact every night and has made an impact on basically every night," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said about Rantanen. "He's just trying to push himself to another level, the next level. He knows our team needs it. I just see a highly determined player in all areas of his game."
Colorado had lost seven of eight games and was two days removed from a loss to the last-place Chicago Blackhawks. The seven goals are the most the Avalanche have scored this season.
"We knew we weren't playing the hockey we want lately," Francouz said. "It was kind of getting in our heads and that's always challenging. I think we kind of forgot that hockey is fun, too. Today, we just played our hockey. We didn't take our foot off the gas the whole time."
Brad Hunt also scored for Colorado.
Rantanen started the scoring 5:45 into the game. It served as a catalyst for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who entered the matchup 23rd in the NHL in goals per game. Barely two minutes after Rantanen scored, Newhook added a goal of his own, firing a slap shot over goalie Anton Forsberg's shoulder.
With a third-period goal, Lehkonen had his first multi-goal game since Colorado's season opener. Nathan MacKinnon had two assists, giving him four in two games.
"We've had some good stretches every now and then, but we have to play a full 60 minutes," Rantanen said. "That's been the issue lately. We have to focus on that."
The seven goals allowed were a career worst for Forsberg. He stopped 26 shots.
"Hopefully we can break out of it a little bit and gain a little confidence as individuals and as a team after an outing like that," Bednar said. "That's two of our best outings all year in the last four games. I'd rather think of it that way. We can't go and win eight games in a row tonight. We have to figure out what it is that makes us tick. I think we did that tonight."
NOTES: Avalanche C Darren Helm was a scratch after suffering a lower-body injury in a 3-2 loss Thursday night at Chicago. In his place, Colorado called up LW Sampo Ranta, marking Ranta's sixth stint with the team this season. ... Avalanche C Denis Malgin was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Jan. 5. Malgin hadn't played in Colorado's previous three games entering Saturday after sustaining an upper-body injury ... Senators LW Austin Watson and Avalanche D Andreas Englund earned five-minute major penalties for fighting in the second period.
UP NEXT
Avalanche: Host Detroit on Monday.
Senators: At St. Louis on Monday night.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.