Makar’s 3 points spark Avalanche, who cool off Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Cale Makar had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Parker Kelly scored twice, Martin Necas had a goal, and Brock Nelson and Jack Drury each had two assists for the Avalanche (41-10-9), who have won three in a row and five of six, including a 4-2 victory at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves.

"Coming out of that (Olympic) break, you're always hoping for the best, but you just never know what you're going to get," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Especially in our situation, with so many guys going to the Olympics and we didn't know what the fatigue would be like."

Cutter Gauthier scored, and Lukas Dostal made 21 saves for the Ducks (33-24-3), who had won five straight and 12 of their past 14 (12-2-0), including eight in a row at Honda Center.

"We've been fortunate that we've come back and we've shown a lot of resiliency with the group, but you can't do that in every game," Anaheim forward Alex Killorn said. "It's just not going to work that way, so we've got to find a way to get some leads and have some better starts."

Makar gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 11:33 of the first period. He came out from behind the Anaheim net to retrieve a loose puck and skated through the left circle before scoring with a wrist shot from the hash marks.

It's the fourth straight game the Ducks surrendered the first goal.

"Playing from behind is not traditionally winning hockey," Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. "You can’t expect to keep chasing a game."

Necas scored on Colorado’s first power play to extend it to 2-0 at 14:05 with a one-timer from the top of the left circle, his fifth goal in the past five games.

“A lot of these games, we've been able to come back, but against a team like that, can't spot them two goals. They're just too good," Killorn said. "After they scored those two, we fought back a little bit, but it just wasn't enough.”

Gauthier cut it to 2-1 at 4:50 of the second period on a one-timer from the right circle off a feed from Jackson LaCombe. It was the third goal in the past two games for Gauthier, who leads Anaheim this season with 29.

Kelly put the Avalanche ahead 3-1 at 15:03 on a wrist shot from just above the left circle.

"I thought we were fine until they scored the third one," Quenneville said. "I thought the game was even at that point, 2-1 down. That goal really seemed to take the edge off of us."

Gabriel Landeskog scored for the second straight game to push it to 4-1 at 4:35 of the third period, a one-timer off a feed from Nathan MacKinnon.

"I feel like every week he's getting better and better," MacKinnon said of Landeskog. "He's getting his timing back and his shot looks really good."

Kelly’s second goal made it 5-1 at 10:05, scoring with a one-timer from the left circle after catching Dostal out of the crease.

Kelly has 15 goals after matching his previous NHL-career high with eight last season.

"Just getting a little bit lucky," Kelly said. "When they're going in, it's just one of those years, I guess."

Bednar was pleased with how the Avalanche played after the first 10 minutes of the game.

"I thought we dug in on the defensive side of things," he said. "We made some nice plays with the puck in the offensive zone, executed well, power play gets us a goal. There's lots to like, especially the checking part of our game, getting above pucks for the last two periods."  

Wedgewood made two grade-A saves in the first four minutes of the game, stopping Beckett Sennecke and LaCombe. The Ducks then went on their second power play and Mason McTavish shot the puck through the crease with a wide-open net at 6:55. 

"When you get that double PK in the first 10 minutes, and you keep it out of your net, you kind of build your own confidence," Wedgewood said. "The game started to flow; I kind of knew what they like to do, where their guys are."

NOTES: The Avalanche, who entered Tuesday last in the NHL in power-play efficiency at 15.3 percent, went 1-for-3 with the man-advantage. ... Colorado (91 points in 60 games) became the first team to reach the 90-point mark in 2025-26 and did so in the fewest games in franchise history, besting the previous mark of 61 games in 2021-22. ... Necas has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in five games since the Olympic break. ... LaCombe extended his point and assist streaks to six games (seven assists). ... Gauthier has six goals in his past six games.