Avalanche defeats Ducks 4-1, becomes first NHL team to reach 60 points – The Denver Post

Nathan MacKinnon extended his team scoring lead to 50 points, linemate Gabe Landeskog climbed to 40 and the Avalanche became the first NHL team to reach 60 points on Sunday at Anaheim.

MacKinnon and Landeskog each had goals and multiple-point performances to lead Colorado to a 4-1 victory over the Ducks at Honda Center, capping a two-game sweep over Anaheim. The Avs are 7-1-0 in their past eight games and 15-1-2 in their last 18.

Landeskog’s team-high three points gave him 500 for his career, making him the fifth player to reach that mark in an Avalanche sweater. MacKinnon, who extended his points streak to nine games and has an NHL-most 28 points since March 12, is No. 4 on that list at 545 career points.

The Avs, who blanked the Ducks 2-0 on Friday behind goalie Jonas Johansson’s 28 saves, also got goals from Andre Burakovsky and Ryan Graves and another solid performance from Johansson (24 saves).

Colorado led 2-0 before Johansson’s second-straight shutout bid ended with Jamie Drysdale’s goal at 12:37 of the third period. Graves and MacKinnon added insurance goals in the final six minutes.

The Avs finished 3-1 on their four-game road trip. They return to Denver and host Arizona on Monday night at Ball Arena.

Dubnyk steps into lineup. Devan Dubnyk’s sixth NHL team will give him his best chance to win the Stanley Cup, and that’s what the veteran goalie embraced Saturday after the initial shock that he was traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Avalanche.

Dubnyk, 34, will serve as the primary backup to Philipp Grubauer. He made a six-hour drive from San Jose to Anaheim ahead of Sunday’s game. Grubauer did not dress and Dubnyk backed up Johansson.

“Obviously, a bit of a whirlwind yesterday when you get told, trying to figure life out a little bit,” Dubnyk said Sunday in a video conference call from Anaheim. “But when I was sitting in the car, (it was) kind of hitting me a little bit how great of an opportunity to have a chance to win the Stanley Cup.”

Dubnyk has 250 career victories, mostly from his six-year stint with the Minnesota Wild from 2014-20. He also played five seasons for the Edmonton Oilers and had brief stints with the Nashville Predators and Arizona Coyotes.

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