Even Mother Nature can't slow down elite skill.
Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each had a goal and two assists as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 Thursday night at Nationwide Arena. The Avalanche clinched a playoff berth with the win.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves on 30 shots.
M&M Show
The Avalanche were delayed getting to Columbus due to bad weather, so they stayed back in Chicago a little longer following their 3-2 shootout win over the Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
Even though it meant the Avalanche wouldn't get to Columbus until after noon on Thursday, it didn't slow them down too much.
Due to severe storms in the Midwest late Wed/early Thu, #GoAvsGo did not make it out of Chicago following their 3-2 SO win.
Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 3, 2025
Theyre still there as of 9:30 am ET, hoping to fly out later this morning.
As of now, tonights game (7:30 pm) vs #CBJ is still on as scheduled.
MacKinnon scored to give Colorado the early 1-0 lead at 3:25. He leads the NHL with 114 points. Artturi Lehkonen (17) and Devon Toews (32) assisted. Mackinnon is on a six-game point streak (three goals, five assists).
Brock Nelson (24) regained the Avalanche lead at 18:05 to make it 2-1. The goal is the 299th of his career. Cale Makar (59) and Toews (33) assisted. Makar is on a three-game point streak (three goals, three assists).
Makar (30) scored at 19:22 to make it 5-3 on the power play and became the first defenseman to score 30 goals in a season since Mike Green in 2008-09. MacKinnon earned the assist, and Charlie Coyle (10) got the secondary assist.
Toews (9) made it 6-3 at 4:01 of the third period. Makar (60) and MacKinnon (83) picked up their second assists of the game. MacKinnon leads the league with 83 assists.
The Avalanche came into the night leading the NHL with 47 goals by its defensemen, and Columbus, second with 46. Makar leads all defensemen with 90 points, 30 goals, and 60 assists.
The Avalanche also had goals by Parker Kelly (8) in the second period, which tied the game 3-3. Jack Drury (9) assisted. Miles Wood scored his third of the season at 5:49 of the third period, and Coyle (11) picked up his third point with the assist.
Magic From Monahan And Jenner
It only took 3:10 before Sean Monahan tied the game 1-1 at 6:35 with assists to Dante Fabbro (16) and Dmitri Voronkov (23). Fabbro is on a four-game point streak (two goals, five assists).
Sean Monahan sweeps home the juicy rebound for a quick Columbus response, tie game!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/0TE0EL6rDW
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 3, 2025
Sean Monahan has three goals and eight points in four-plus games since returning from injury. Welcome back indeed.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 3, 2025
Dante Fabbro also has seven points in the last three-plus games. #CBJ
With Monahan out of the lineup between Jan. 8 and March 23, the Blue Jackets put up 2.82 goals for per game (22nd). Since then, with Monahan back in the lineup, Columbus is third in goals per game (4.40).
In Tuesday's 8-4 win over the Nashville Predators, Kirill Marchenko had a hat trick and assisted Monahan's power-play goal. Monahan had four points with two goals and two assists, including an assist on Marchenko's second and third goals.
With those two together through 46 games this season, the duo puts up 4.97 goals for per 60 and allows 2.30 goals per 60.
Zach Aston-Reese (5) scored at 4:16 of the second period to tie the game 2-2.
That's Zach Aston-Reese's first goal since Nov. 15, and what a time for it. Ends a 57-game goalless drought.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 4, 2025
Mathieu Olivier the assist. #CBJ
Zach Aston-Reese sneaks home a seemingly harmless shot, tying the score at 2 for Columbus!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/uImr37DuER
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 4, 2025
Boone Jenner (6) scored at 7:56 of the second to give Columbus a 3-2 lead, their only lead of the game. Jack Johnson (6) and Kent Johnson (28) assisted, and the point gives Kent his first 50-point campaign.
Boone Jenner is averaging a point a game (6g-12a-18p) since his return to the lineup and gives the #CBJ their first lead of the night, 3-2, on this putback after #GoAvsGo's Blackwood has trouble catching the initial shot.pic.twitter.com/qPOdkOF38d
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 4, 2025
After Thursday's game, Jenner's points-per-60 is up to 3.48 and Monahan's is up to 3.12.
Most points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 in the NHL this season:
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 3, 2025
More than 15 games played: Boone Jenner (3.46)
More than 40 games played: Sean Monahan (3.09) #CBJ
The Hook
Head coach Dean Evason gave the hook to his goaltender for the first time all season.
#GoAvsGo scored three goals in the final 7:21 of the second period for a 5-3 lead after two.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 4, 2025
Following two more third-period goals by Colorado, the final goal was the last straw as Evason made the rare in-game goaltending change. Evason said Merzlikin’s post-goal reaction, in which his net minder slammed his stick, also contributed to being pulled.
"A little of both, "Evason said. "I'm not going to elaborate on that, but yeah, a little of both."
The Blue Jackets have regained their ability to score goals lately. They're also allowing more goals, which has been a trending problem, with seven on Thursday and 29 in their last six games.
What's the level of concern defensively?
"Very concerned that we're not dialing in to keep it out of our net," Evason said. "It's our job as coaches to systematically dial it back in and get them to play the right way.
"This point in the year, it seems like you shouldn't have to do that, but there's definitely some mistakes in this hockey game, and we talked about them in the last hockey game, that pucks shouldn't have went in the net and or we shouldn't have gave them that opportunity to have those scoring chances.
"You'd think at this point in the year, you'd be pretty dialed in. There are some things we think may be a contributing factor to that. We'll evaluate it and look forward to the next one in Toronto."
#CBJ D Zach Werenski said the Jackets can't afford to scoreboard watch at this point after falling four points back of Montreal.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 4, 2025
"We have to do our work and win hockey games, and we haven't done that consistently these last 14, 15 games. I think other teams' scores are
Merzlikins made 21 saves on 28 shots. Daniil Tarasov stopped all four shots he faced. The Blue Jackets are four points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot and two points behind the New York Rangers.
To The Road
The Blue Jackets go for the regular-season sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs from Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
