Mikko Rantanen also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had three assists for Colorado, which has won four straight.

Blackwood has four wins in five starts since being acquired from San Jose on December 9th. He signed a five-year, $26.5 million contract extension with the Avalanche earlier Friday.

Nick Schmaltz scored for Utah, which has lost eight of its last nine at home. Karel Vejmelka finished with 33 saves.

Following a scoreless first period, Colorado struck first when a wide-open Lehkonen tapped in the puck off a feed from MacKinnon with 8:08 left in the second.

Utah finally got on the board when Schmaltz tapped in a power play equalizer with at 3:42 ofthe third off Mikhail Sergachev’s blast down the middle.

Lehkonen answered with 5:16 left when he tapped in the puck around Vejmelka’s outstretched skate. Mikko Rantanen and Lehkonen capped the scoring with a pair of empty-netters in the final two minutes.

Takeaways

Avalanche: Aggressive attacking from Colorado kept Utah’s defense on its heels for the bulk of the game.

Utah: An inability to generate early scoring chances offset Utah’s strong defensive play early in the game. In the second period alone, Utah totaled only seven shots on goal.

Key moment

Schmaltz gave Utah a chance to take its first lead after scoring on a power play but Lehkonen helped Colorado pull away with his second tap-in goal from close range.

Key stat

Colorado improved to 16-0 this season when leading at the start of the third period.

Up Next

Avalanche host Winnipeg on Tuesday while Utah visits Seattle on Monday.

NHL ROUNDUP

DEVILS 4, HURRICANES 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Defenseman Luke Hughes had a goal and an assist, Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves and New Jersey defeated Carolina.

Ondrej Palat, Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey, which has won three straight and six of seven.

Eric Robinson and Brent Burns scored for the Hurricanes, who lost for the third time in four games. Carolina had 31 shots on goal, after the Devils permitted 20 or fewer in each of their previous seven games.

Robinson opened the scoring at 10:03 of the first period by poking the puck past Markstrom, who was coming off consecutive 12-save shutouts.

Palat tied it at 16:14, followed by Hischier’s team-best 18th goal 42 seconds later to put New Jersey ahead 2-1.

Burns tied it for Carolina just 22 seconds into the middle period.

Hughes, the 21-year-old brother of Devils star center Jack Hughes, then scored at 4:15 followed by Mercer at 8:47 to put New Jersey ahead 4-2.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves for the Hurricanes.

MAPLE LEAFS 5, RED WINGS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Mitch Marner’s third career hat trick spoiled Todd McClellan’s Detroit coaching debut as Toronto won.

David Kampf scored his first goal of the season in his 500th career game and Nicolas Robertson also scored for the Maple Leafs. John Tavares had two assists and Joseph Woll made 23 saves.

Derek Lalonde was fired by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman on Thursday and replaced by McClellan, who previously coached San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles.

Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson had third-period goals for Detroit, which has lost four straight. Cam Talbot started and gave up five goals on 21 shots, and Alex Lyon started the third period and finished with two saves.

Marner scored two at even strength and another on a power play, all in the first two periods.

An upper body injury sidelined Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews for a third consecutive game.

BLUE JACKETS 6, BRUINS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sean Monahan scored twice in his 800th NHL game, helping Columbus beat Boston and extending their home win streak to three games.

Dmitri Voronkov added two goals and an assist, extending his point streak to six games. Kirill Marchenko’s goal and two assists gave him points in a career-high seven straight. Adam Fantilli also scored, and Elvis Merzlikins made 23 saves for Columbus.

Zach Werenski had four assists for the second time in his career, setting a franchise record with points in 12 straight home games.

Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle scored, and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 27 shots for Boston, which lost its second straight on the road. Brad Marchand’s assist on Coyle’s goal extended his point streak to 11 games.

SABRES 6, BLACKHAWKS 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Alex Tuch scored a hat trick for Buffalo in a win against Chicago.

Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn each had a goal and an assist in the first period. The Sabres also got goals from Zach Benson and Tuch to build a 4-0 lead, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen needed to make just two of his 15 saves in the opening period.

Tuch scored twice in the third period after Seth Jones cut the Sabres’ lead to 4-2

Buffalo’s victory was its second in a row following a 13-game winless streak (0-10-3) that briefly put the Sabres below the Blackhawks for the worst record in the NHL.

Rasmus Dahlin had two assists after tallying four in Buffalo’s 7-1 win against the New York Islanders on Monday.

Tyler Bertuzzi had the other goal for Chicago. Goaltender Petr Mrazek was pulled after allowing four goals on 11 shots in the first period. Backup Arvid Soderblom made 22 saves.

WILD 3, STARS 2, OT

DALLAS (AP) — Defenseman Brock Faber scored a wraparound goal 35 seconds into overtime and Minnesota rallied from two goals down midway through the third period to beat Dallas.

Jonas Brodin and Marcus Foligno scored 57 seconds apart in the third to tie the score for the Wild, whose 29 road points (13-3-3) are tops in the league. Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves.

Evgenii Dadonov and Wyatt Johnston each had a goal and an assist giving Dallas a 2-0 lead through two periods. Jake Oettinger, a Minnesota native, stopped 15 shots for the Stars, who are 0-2-1 in their last three home games.

Faber took a pass from Matt Boldy near center ice on the first overtime shift, skated in and behind the net as Oettinger appeared to lose sight of the puck behind him and didn’t leave the left post.

BLUES 7, PREDATORS 4

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Robert Thomas scored twice, Jordan Kyrou had a goal and an assist, and St. Louis beat Nashville.

Joel Hofer made 26 saves for the Blues, and defenseman Cam Fowler added a goal and two assists.

Zack Bolduc, Philip Broberg and Colton Parayko also scored for St. Louis. Dylan Holloway had two assists.

Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist for Nashville. Mark Jankowski and Nick Blankenburg also scored.

Predators goalie Juuse Saros was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 15 shots.

Thomas scored the first goal of the game and got another one on a power play at 15:10 of the third period off assists from Kyrou and Fowler to make it 6-4.

Parayko added an empty-netter with 1:15 remaining.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, SHARKS 3

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel scored pivotal short-handed goals just seconds apart in the third period, and Alex Pietrangelo had three assists as Vegas beat San Jose.

Mark Stone, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev and Noah Hanifin each had a goal for the Golden Knights, who scored four unanswered in the third.

The Sharks were led by rookie Will Smith, who had a goal and an assist. Shakir Mukhamadullin and Tyler Toffoli also scored.

San Jose led 3-2 early in the third and was on a power play, but Vegas quickly seized the momentum when McNabb tied it at 1:03 and Eichel scored the go-ahead goal 23 seconds later.

The Sharks broke a 2-all tie late in the second when Toffoli scored his team-leading 14th goal on a bank shot from behind the net. Toffoli’s shot ricocheted off the back of Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague’s skate and slid past goalie Adin Hill.

Hill made 22 saves and Alexandar Georgiev turned back 30 shots for San Jose.

NBA ROUNDUP

KNICKS 108, MAGIC 85

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jalen Brunson had 26 points and nine assists, Josh Hart added 23 points and 13 rebounds and New York extended its winning streak to six games with a win over Orlando.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks, who pulled away in the second half. Mikal Bridges, coming off a season-best 41-point game in a win over San Antonio on Christmas Day, added 17 points.

Jalen Suggs, limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble, scored 27 points. Goga Bitadze had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Orlando, which dropped its second straight and lost for the fifth time in seven games.

CELTICS 142, PACERS 105

BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored a season-high 44 points, including six 3-pointers, and Boston snapped a two-game skid with a rout over Indiana.

Jayson Tatum added 22 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, which connected on 23 3s and never trailed. Brown also had four steals to join Larry Bird (five times) and Antoine Walker as the only Celtics with at least 44 points and four steals in a game.

Payton Pritchard finished with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

The Pacers have lost two straight since posting a season-best five-game win streak.

Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and nine assists, Bennedict Mathurin finished with 18 points and Pascal Siakam added 14 points and nine rebounds.

SPURS 96, NETS 87

NWE YORK (AP) — Victor Wembanyama had 19 points, seven rebounds and six blocks, Jeremy Sochan had 12 points and 14 rebounds and San Antonio beat Brooklyn.

Julian Champagnie scored 18 points, and Keldon Johnson had 15 points and six rebounds to help the Spurs end a two-game skid.

Keon Johnson scored a game-high 25 points and Shake Milton chipped in with 16 points and 12 assists for Brooklyn, which fell for the ninth time in its past 12 games.

TIMBERWOLVES 113, ROCKETS 112

HOUSTON (AP) — Anthony Edwards made a step-back 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to cap a furious rally and lift Minnesota to a win over Houston.

The Rockets were up by by 12 with about three minutes left before a 10-0 run by the Timberwolves, highlighted by a 3-point play by Edwards, cut the lead to 110-108 with 90 seconds to go.

Alperen Sengun made 1 of 2 free throws after that, but Julius Randle’s dunk on the other end got Minnesota within 1. Sengun was fouled a second time and again made just 1 of 2 free throws to leave Houston up 112-110.

Edwards then sunk the 3-pointer to give Minnesota its first lead since midway through the third quarter.

The Rockets had a chance for the win, but Fred VanVleet’s 3-point attempt was off.

Randle had 27 points and Edwards added 24 as the Timberwolves won their second straight after losing three in a row.

GRIZZLIES 132, PELICANS 124

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 33 points, Ja Morant scored 25 before leaving with what appeared to be a minor right shoulder injury, and Memphis beat slumping New Orleans.

Morant was knocked from the game when he was flattened by Pelicans center Daniel Theis’ hard but legal screen.

The Grizzlies never ruled Morant out of the game, classifying him as doubtful after he went to the locker room to be examined. He returned to the bench and cheered on his team from there.

Jackson held the Pelicans at bay, with help from Desmond Bane, who finished with 18 points, and Scottie Pippen Jr., who scored 13 points. Zach Edey added 14 points.

Trey Murphy III scored 35 points and CJ McCollum 32 for the Pelicans, who’ve lost nine straight and 18 of 19. Theis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

MAVERICKS 98, SUNS 89

PHOENIX (AP) — Kyrie Irving scored 20 points, Daniel Gafford added 16 and Dallas won their first game since star Luka Doncic was injured, beating Phoenix.

Kevin Durant scored 35 points for the Suns, who have lost four of their past five games.

Doncic is expected to miss about a month with a calf injury suffered in the team’s Christmas Day loss to Minnesota. The Mavs were left further short-handed on Friday in the third quarter after forwards Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington — along with Phoenix’s Jusuf Nurkic — were ejected after a brief fight.

The Mavs persevered anyway thanks to a balanced effort on both ends of the floor. Dallas never trailed and led by as many as 18. Spencer Dinwiddie and Maxi Kleber each scored 15 points and Klay Thompson added 11.

Dallas took a 55-39 lead by halftime, led by Irving’s 15 points. The Suns shot just 33.3% over the first two quarters.

CAVALIERS 149, NUGGETS 135

DENVER (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points, Evan Mobley had 26 points and streaking Cleveland beat Denver for their sixth straight win.

Cleveland set a season high in points and improved to 10-1 since dropping two in a row to Atlanta last month.

Nikola Jokic had 27 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists for his league-leading 12th triple-double of the season, and Jamal Murray also had 27 with 10 assists for Denver, which has dropped two in a row.

Michael Porter Jr. scored 13 of the Nuggets’ first 25 points to help keep pace with the Cavaliers but only scored five the rest of the way.

Cleveland led by as many as 19 to improve its NBA-best record to 27-4.

CLIPPERS 102, WARRIORS 92

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Norman Powell scored 24 points and Los Angeles held on to beat slumping Golden State for the third time this season.

James Harden added 18 points and seven assists and Ivica Zubac had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Jonathan Kuminga scored a career-high 34 points off the bench to lead the Warriors, who were without Stephen Curry (knee) and Draymond Green (back).

The Clippers are still waiting for Kawhi Leonard to make his season debut. Kevin Porter Jr. sat out because of illness.

Things got chippy in the fourth when the Warriors cut a 19-point deficit to three points.

Harden fouled Brandin Podziemski, who fell hard to the court. Soon after, Podziemski fouled Amir Coffey when they collided near the Warriors bench. Tempers flared on both sides and Harden and Lindy Waters III were assessed technical fouls. Fans then booed Podziemski whenever he touched the ball.