Avalanche vs. Blues: Martin Necas Scores Twice and Nathan MacKinnon Adds Three Assists in 6-1 Rout

Jordan Binnington wandered behind his net to play the puck, and it hopped right over his stick. Gabriel Landeskog scooped it up, slid it into the crease, and Martin Necas backhanded it into a net with nobody home. That made it 6-0 late in the second period, and the only real drama left in Denver was whether Mackenzie Blackwood would get his shutout.

He did not, but nobody in burgundy was complaining. The Colorado Avalanche hammered the St. Louis Blues 6-1 on Saturday night at Ball Arena, with Necas scoring twice and adding an assist and Nathan MacKinnon setting up three goals. Blackwood made 25 saves, and Dalibor Dvorsky spoiled the clean sheet early in the third.

Colorado Sets the Tone Early

The Blues arrived on the second night of a back-to-back, fresh off a 4-0 win at Dallas, and Colorado made them pay for every tired stride. At 4:09 of the first, MacKinnon carried the puck to the left circle and fed Necas in the slot, Necas backhanded a pass to the back door, and Cale Makar tucked a wrister inside the right post. Three of the best players on the ice touched it, which tends to happen with this group.

"I think we're finding a lot of chemistry early," Makar said, per NHL.com.

At 13:12, Artturi Lehkonen knocked Robert Thomas' clearing attempt along the right wall back to MacKinnon, who whipped it across to Necas alone at the left circle. Necas beat Binnington's glove to the far side for a 2-0 lead.

"Just a nice back check there by 'Lehky.' He stole the puck from them. Nice pass from Nate, and I just had the shooting opportunity," Necas said.

St. Louis managed just four shots on goal in the first period, according to the AP. That is not a stat line. That is a cry for help.

The Turning Point: Four Goals, One Long Second Period

Any hope of a Blues push died in the middle frame. Josh Manson made it 3-0 at 5:38 when his one-timer from the blue line clipped the stick of Blues forward Jonatan Berggren and fluttered past Binnington's blocker.

Then the puck started finding Colorado sticks in the worst possible places for St. Louis. At 11:40, Binnington tried an outlet pass from behind his own net, Lehkonen knocked it down at the right circle and snapped it low past the sliding goalie for his third goal of the season. Late in the period, Nicolas Roy took a drop pass from Parker Kelly in the left circle and wristed it short side at 18:02. Twenty-three seconds later, Necas cashed in on Binnington's second puck-handling misadventure of the night.

According to the AP, it was the second straight game against Colorado in which Binnington allowed six goals, the other coming on New Year's Eve of 2025. Thomas, whose clearing attempt started the second goal, put some of it on himself. "So it's a tough place to play. They come out hot, and we knew that. And yeah, there's just some mistakes early, especially with me. So we got to clean that up," he said.

Stars of the Night

Necas finished with two goals, an assist and a plus-4 rating in 19:21, and the AP noted he now has two goals and two assists after his first 100-point season in 2025-26. NHL.com added that he reached 50 career goals with the Avalanche in 110 games, the seventh player in franchise history to get there in 110 games or fewer, on a list that includes Peter Stastny and Marc Tardif.

MacKinnon had three assists and has five points in two games, both Colorado blowouts, per the AP. Last season's Rocket Richard winner with 53 goals is now just as happy to be the guy making everybody else look brilliant.

Lehkonen had a goal and an assist and set up the whole night with his forecheck. Coach Jared Bednar could not stop praising him. "I think the best word I can think of to just kind of describe his games to this point is just he's relentless," Bednar said.

Makar, who signed an eight-year, $163.2 million extension that kicks in next season, per the AP, opened the scoring and played 20:04. Manson and Roy each had a goal and an assist, and Kelly added two assists. Landeskog set up Necas' second goal in his 800th career game, which NHL.com said makes him the sixth player in franchise history to reach that mark.

For St. Louis, Dvorsky scored his second goal of the season at 2:34 of the third, with Theo Lindstein assisting. Binnington made 30 saves on 36 shots.

Stats That Matter

• 36-26: Colorado's shot advantage.
• 4: Blues shots on goal in the first period.
• 23 seconds: The gap between Roy's and Necas' goals late in the second.
• 14: Colorado goals through two games, second-most by a reigning Presidents' Trophy winner behind the 1989-90 Calgary Flames (16), per NHL.com.
• 800: Career games for Landeskog.

What It Means

Colorado is 2-0-0, has scored six or more goals in each game and looks like it never left last season. Bednar loved the response from the opener. "I can't think of one thing that we talked about after last game and went through that we didn't implement into our game and improve on," he said. The Avalanche play their first road game of the season at Winnipeg on Wednesday night.

St. Louis falls to 1-1-0, and the opening-night shutout in Dallas already feels like a while ago. Coach Jim Montgomery kept it in perspective. "We knew it was not going to be like Game 1 every night," he said. The Blues wrap up their three-game road trip at Chicago on Tuesday night.

Closing Take

Most blockbusters save the big explosion for the third act. The Avalanche keep blowing things up in the opening scene. Two games, 14 goals, and a top line that is passing the puck like it is running a drill against air. The scary part for the rest of the Central is that Bednar's biggest compliment was about details. When the most talented team in the room is also the one doing its homework, opponents tend to spend their nights chasing.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.