Colorado Avalanche

MacKinnon still hot, Duchene not
May 8, 2017, 8:06 PM ET [24 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
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Nathan MacKinnon and Calvin Pickard remained hot at the IIHF World Championships, but Avalanche teammate Matt Duchene's offensive slump has carried over from the regular season.

MacKinnon had two goals and an assist Monday in Canada's 6-0 rout of Belarus in Paris and Pickard made 13 saves for his second consecutive win, but Duchene remained without a point for the third consecutive game.

MacKinnon, who has seven points (five goals, two assists) in the past two games, scored twice in the second period, the first on a power play. He fed Jeff Skinner for a goal in the third period.

MacKinnon played wing on a line with Carolina's Skinner and Philadelphia's Claude Giroux.

"With the linemates I have, the power play we have, and the opportunity I'm getting from the coaching staff, it makes it easy for me," MacKinnon told reporters.


Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie had an assist, giving him seven points (two goals, five assists) for 3-0-0-0 Canada.

Pickard had an easy time of it, facing four shots in the first period, three in the second and six in the third.

Duchene, playing wing on a line with Buffalo's Ryan O'Reilly and Winnipeg's Mark Sheifele, had one shot in 11:05 of ice time. He has no points and six shots in three games.

Canada plays France on Thursday.

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Avalanche forward J.T. Compher broke a 3-3 tie with 9:13 left in the third period to give the United States a 4-3 win against Sweden in Cologne, Germany.

Compher tipped a shot by Arizona's Connor Murphy behind goalie Viktor Fasth for his first point in the tournament. He had two shots while skating much of the game with Winnipeg's Andrew Copp and Boston University's Jordan Greenway, a Minnesota draft pick.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog had five shots for Sweden. Carl Soderberg had one shot and a minor penalty.

The Americans (2-0-0-1) play Italy on Wednesday. Sweden (1-0-1-1) faces Latvia on Thursday.

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Mikko Rantanen had two assists in Finland's 4-3 shootout loss to the Czech Republic in Paris. He has three assists in three games.

Finland (1-0-1-1) meets Slovenia on Wednesday.

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Avalanche draft pick and defenseman Andrei Mironov had two shots, a minor penalty and was minus-2 for Russia in a 6-3 win against Germany in Cologne. He was paired with Philadelphia's Ivan Provorov.

Russia (2-1-0-0) plays Denmark on Thursday.

TSN's Darren Dreger tweeted that Mironov will sign with the Avalanche "within a few days."

Mironov, 22, has spent the past five seasons with Dynamo Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League. Mironov, who is 6-feet-3 and 194 pounds, reportedly has received a verbal release from the KHL team but needs one in writing. He was the Avalanche's fourth-round pick (No. 101) in the 2015 NHL draft.

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The Colorado Eagles, who are the Avalanche's ECHL affiliate, have a 3-2 lead against the Allen Americans in their second-round playoff series after losing two consecutive games at home. They lost 4-0 on Sunday.

The next two games are in Allen, Texas. The Eagles will again try to clinch matters on Tuesday. Game 7, if necessary, would be Wednesday.