Martin Necas recorded two goals and an assist to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday at Ball Arena.
Colorado gained the lead early in the first period when Cale Makar scored his first goal of the season with a wrist shot at 4:09, assisted by Necas and Nathan MacKinnon. Necas then pushed the margin to 2-0 at 13:12 with a snap shot for his first tally of the campaign, setup by MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen.
The Avalanche pulled away with four goals during the second period. Josh Manson made it 3-0 at 5:38 on a snap shot, assisted by Nicolas Roy and Parker Kelly, before Lehkonen added an unassisted snap-shot goal at 11:40. Late in the frame, Colorado scored twice in a span of 23 seconds. Roy converted a wrist shot at 18:02 off passes from Kelly and Manson, and Necas scored with a backhand at 18:25 following assists from Gabriel Landeskog and MacKinnon. St. Louis broke the shutout bid at 2:34 of the third period when Dalibor Dvorsky scored on a backhand assisted by Theo Lindstein.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn the win for Colorado, while Jordan Binnington made 30 saves on 36 shots for St. Louis. Both teams went scoreless on special teams, as the Blues were 0 of 2 on the power play and the Avalanche finished 0 of 4 with the man advantage.
With the victory, the Avalanche moved to 2-0-0 on the season and extended their winning streak to two games. St. Louis dropped to 1-1-0 with the loss. MacKinnon finished the night with three assists to reach three points, and Necas recorded three points on two goals and one assist.
The Blues return to the ice on Tuesday, October 20, when they host the Winnipeg Jets. Colorado will play next on Monday, October 19, when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
