Miner, Avalanche shut out Blue Jackets, extend home point streak to 21

DENVER -- Trent Miner made 29 saves in his first NHL win, and the Colorado Avalanche extended their home point streak to 21 games with a 4-0 shutout against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Ball Arena on Saturday.

It was his fifth NHL game and third this season.

"I think it went really good. I mean, there was a lot of shots blocked tonight that didn't get through, and I can't thank them enough for that," Miner said. "In all honesty, I'm just glad that we were able to get the win. For sure, it's exciting to get my first win, but I think for us to get another win at home is just as exciting."

Colorado, which is 19-0-2 at home this season, has also won 17 straight games at home, the second-longest in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise history, and one away from tying the longest stretch set in 2021-22.

"It's impressive what the guys have been doing, especially at home, no question," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "It's the same as what goes into winning on a nightly basis, but then it just becomes consistency in order to win that much in a row and not take nights off or have bad nights. Like some games are better than others, but I feel like our guys are always there to compete, and their heart and minds are in the right place."

Brent Burns scored twice, Victor Olofsson had a goal and an assist, and Ilya Solovyov scored his first NHL goal for the Avalanche (33-4-7), who are 12-2-0 in their past 14 games. Gavin Brindley and Parker Kelly each had two assists.

Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves for the Blue Jackets (18-19-7), who have lost four straight (0-3-1) and five of their past six games (1-4-1).

"I know it sounds crazy, but we saw a lot of good things. We checked really well against their top guys," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. "Did we make some mistakes? Sure. We did some good things, and I know it sounds kind of silly when you lose 4-0, but obviously that's a great team. And we think we can build on some stuff. We need to, obviously, continue to do that."

Burns scored to make it 1-0 when he snapped the rebound of Ross Colton's initial shot under Merzlikins at 13:58 of the first period. Danton Heinen had slid into his own goalie, who recovered for Colton's attempt but wasn't set for Burns' shot from above the right circle.

"Obviously, we want to start well. I think teams come to expect that," Burns said. "You don't want to disappoint them. I don't think it's something we really think about after the fact. We try to get prepared and go play right from the face-off."

Olofsson extended it to 2-0 at 17:28 of the first after he chipped a backhand shot past the blocker as he cut across the slot. Kelly dug the puck out of a scrum in the left corner and passed to Jack Drury, who fed a backhand pass to Olofsson.

"I thought Elvis was real good," Evason said. "Screened on a couple. Made some big stops. They've got some firepower, right? He made some real good saves, held us in there."

Solovyov pushed it to 3-0 at 10:30 of the second period with a wrist shot from above the left dot that went far side under the glove.

"I was just happy for myself, proud of the work that I've done," said Solovyov, who was out of the lineup for 27 games earlier this season. "I have a lot of time, a lot of games to look at the team, how the guys are playing here, what they want to do on the ice, and I try just to learn it and be in the right moment, in the right position."

Burns made it 4-0 at 8:33 of the third period. His one-timer from the point was initially stopped by Merzlikins, but the puck ricocheted off the goalie and then defenseman Brendan Gaunce and fluttered in.

"I don't think either shot was going at the net," Burns said. "[Josh Manson] even talked about it today. This game has a funny way of humbling you … . So we just talked about having a good game, and like I said, it was lucky bounces."

Miner became the second goaltender in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history to have a shutout in his first NHL win (Mario Gosselin (Feb. 26, 1984).

"He's a relentless worker and he's a battler," Bednar said. "That's what he is. I think goalie is maybe a little bit different, but there's a handful of players that come out of the ECHL, and it takes them a while. And they're grinding to the American League, and then they make their way to the NHL, and you can pretty much guarantee that the guys that do that, they're battlers and they're going to give it everything they got."

NOTES: Burns (40 years, 307 days) became the fourth-oldest defenseman in NHL history to have a multi-goal game (Tim Horton, 41 years, 277 days on Oct. 16, 1971; Zdeno Chara, 41 years, 221 days on Oct. 25, 2018; Nicklas Lidstrom, 41 years, 191 days on Nov. 5, 2011). … Burns scored his seventh goal of the season and became the third different defenseman in NHL history with as many goals in a season at age 40 or older (Lidstrom; 16 in 2010-11 and 11 in 2011-12; Chara seven in 2017-18).