Blackwood has 38 saves in debut, Avalanche beat Predators 5-2

DENVER (AP) Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 shots in his Colorado debut, and the Avalanche held off a late Nashville surge to beat the Predators 5-2 on Saturday night.

Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Artturi Leknonen scored twice and Ross Colton had a goal for the Avalanche.

Steven Stamkos and Luke Evangelista scored for Nashville, and Juuse Saros finished with 29 saves.

Colorado acquired Blackwood from San Jose on Monday and he made a great first impression in front of the home fans. He stopped the first 37 shots he faced before Stamkos scored with 6:57 remaining in the third.

Evangelista made it a one-goal game on a delayed penalty with 4:52 to go, MacKinnon and Lehkonen scored empty-net goals in the final 2 minutes to seal the win.

Defenseman Roman Josi missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury for Nashville.

Predators: The top line was buzzing despite not getting rewarded until Stamkos scored. Forsberg and Stamkos had five shots each and Jonathan Marchessault had three.

Avalanche: MacKinnon is heating up after a slow stretch. He had just one goal in 13 games in the last half of November but has scored five in December, including a goal in three straight games. He passed Michel Goulet for third on the franchise list in scoring with 948 points.

Midway through the second period Stamkos got behind Colorado’s defense and skated in alone on net, but Blackwood made the save to keep the game scoreless. Less than three minutes later, Colton gave the Avalanche the lead.

MacKinnon now has 50 points for the season, tops in the NHL.

Predators host the New York Rangers on Tuesday to open a four-game homestand, and Avalanche visit Vancouver on Monday to start a three-game trip.

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