MacKinnon has 2 goals, Avalanche beat Blues, 3-2

<p>DENVER &mdash; Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals and Brandon Saad added another to lead the surging Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.</p>
<p>Jonas Johansson had 25 saves for his first win for Colorado in his second start since coming over from Buffalo in a trade on March 20. Gabriel Landeskog assisted on both of MacKinnon’s goals for the Avalanche, who have gone 11-0-2 in their last 13 games to take over first place in the West Division.</p>
<p>The Blues got goals from Mike Hoffman and David Perron and 36 saves from Jordan Binnington, but lost their fifth straight game (0-4-1).</p>
<p>Saad and Hoffman traded goals 26 seconds apart in the first before MacKinnon put Colorado ahead. He had a power-play goal at 14:43 of the first and got his 11th of the season with a burst of speed down the right side that he finished with a shot between Binnington’s legs at 13:11 of the second.</p>
<p>Perron pulled St. Louis to 3-2 with a power-play goal at 17:16 of the second.</p>
<p>The Blues got another power play late in the third period but couldn’t cash in. </p>
<p>FINED AND DANDY</p>
<p>MacKinnon flashed some different skills in Wednesday night’s win over Arizona. In the third period he got into a scuffle with Conor Garland and Garland’s helmet came off. MacKinnon tossed it underhand at Garland and the two kept scrapping.</p>
<p>Nothing was damaged except MacKinnon’s wallet. The NHL fined him $5,000 for his actions.</p>
<p>LINEUP CHANGES</p>
<p>Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin was a late scratch due to an upper-body injury. Nichushkin was active on the lineup sheet before the game but was pulled before the puck dropped.</p>
<p>St. Louis center Ivan Barbashev returned to action after missing 18 games with a left ankle injury.</p>
<p>FRIENDLY FIRE</p>
<p>Blues center Robbie Thomas left the game in the first period when a teammate’s dump-in attempt hit him on the right side of his head. He returned later in the game.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>The same two teams play in Denver again Saturday night.</p>