TAMPERE, Finland — Mikko Rantanen scored three goals in his native country to help the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Friday night in the NHL's Global Series.
Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, Logan O’Connor and J.T. Compher also scored and Nathan MacKinnon contributed four assists for the Avalanche, who snapped a two-game skid.
Colorado got going early as Alex Newhook fed O'Connor to score the opening goal, burying a snap shot past goaltender Elvis Merzlikins 1:36 into the game. Compher extended the lead during the power play with a put-back on a deflected Devon Toews’ shot from the blue line with 7:36 to go in the opening period.
Rantanen made it 3-0 just 35 seconds into the second period.
Voracek cut the Avalanche’s lead to 3-1 a minute after Rantanen’s power play goal.
Laine got the Blue Jackets within one from the left circle at 7:16 of the period for his second of the season.
Colorado avoided blowing another three-goal lead, as they had done in their previous game in a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders last Saturday.
After Columbus tied it up at 2:32 in the final period, Rantanen put the Avs ahead for good on a power play goal with a one-timer from the right circle to put the Avalanche ahead 4-3 at 8:54 of the final period.
He completed his hat trick later in the period with an empty-netter, his seventh goal of the season, much to the delight of the hometown crowd.
Playing in his hometown, Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets in front of a sellout crowd of 12,882, Jakub Voracek scored Columbus’ first power-play goal of the season and Sean Kuraly also added a goal for the Blue Jackets, who have now lost four straight.
The Blue Jackets managed to outshoot the Avalanche 39-36, but Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 36 of those shots.
Both teams will play again on Saturday at Tampere's Nokia Arena as part of the league's Global Series. This is the ninth season the NHL has played in Europe and the first year games have been held overseas since the COVID-19 pandemic. Colorado played Ottawa in Stockholm in 2017, while the Blue Jackets made their first appearance since 2010, when they faced off with San Jose in Stockholm.
Columbus 0 2 1 = 3
Colorado 2 1 3 = 6
First Period
COL—Logan O'Connor (2) — Assists: Alex Newhook (1), Erik Johnson (3), 1:36.
COL—J.T. Compher (1) (Power Play) — Assists: Devon Toews (5), Samuel Girard (3), 12:27. Second Period
COL—Mikko Rantanen (5) — Assists: Evan Rodrigues (1), Nathan MacKinnon (10), 0:35.
CBJ—Jakub Voracek (1) (Power Play) — Assists: Patrik Laine (1), Zach Werenski (3), 1:35.
CBJ—Patrik Laine (2) — Assists: Johnny Gaudreau (4), Boone Jenner (4), 7:16. Third Period
CBJ—Sean Kuraly (2) — Assists: Liam Foudy (3), Eric Robinson (2), 2:32.
COL—Mikko Rantanen (6) (Power Play) — Assists: Cale Makar (9), Nathan MacKinnon (11), 8:54.
COL—Cale Makar (1)Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (12), Mikko Rantanen (8),10:49.
COL—Mikko Rantanen (7) (Empty Net)Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (13), Devon Toews (6), 18:56.
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