By Canadian Press

Avalanche overwhelm Senators with first-period barrage en route to 5-1 victory

Mar 20, 2025 | 6:52 PM

OTTAWA — The Colorado Avalanche wasted no time asserting their dominance Thursday night, scoring four first-period goals en route to a commanding 5-1 victory over the playoff-hungry Ottawa Senators.

Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, with his first as a member of the Avalanche (42-25-3), Cale Makar and Joel Kiviranta each scored in the opening frame, chasing Linus Ullmark from the net 17:29 into the contest. Ullmark allowed four goals on 13 shots.

It marked the Senators’ second straight loss following a six-game winning streak. Ottawa (36-27-5) is looking to hold on to the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Entering Thursday night, the Senators sat four points ahead of Montreal, which holds the second wild-card spot, and is five points up on the New York Rangers.

Nelson scored his second of the night 1:54 into the middle frame after tipping an Artturi Lehkonen shot to beat Anton Forsberg, who allowed one goal on 19 shots in relief.

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Scott Wedgewood made 15 saves with his shutout bid being ended by Dylan Cozens’s power-play goal with 4:41 left in the game.

Takeaways

Senators: Cozens continues to shine since joining the Senators with points in six of his seven games (three goals, three assists).

Avalanche: The Avalanche had a slow first five minutes and then gained energy from MacKinnon’s opening goal.

Key moment

Ullmark struggled on Nelson’s first goal, a moment that seemed to drain the Senators’ momentum and sap their energy.

Key stat

Nine players in the NHL have 50-plus points and 100-plus hits. Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson are three of them.

Up next

Senators: Ottawa heads to New Jersey to take on the Devils on Saturday.

Avalanche: Colorado will travel to Montreal to take on the Canadiens on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2025.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press