Lehkonen has hat trick, Blackwood stops 34 shots as Avalanche beat Utah 4-1

By JOHN COON The Associated Press

Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen reacts after scoring a goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Hockey Club, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Rick Egan]

SALT LAKE CTIY (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored three goals, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 34 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Utah Hockey Club 4-1 on Friday night.

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.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl