Mikko Rantanen is a 50 goal scorer!

Wait.. 51 goals...

52 goals.. He's a 52 goal scorer.

On another big night for the Avalanche, the team was led by Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen as they ran over the San Jose Sharks, 6-2. This was a dominant win, and once Mikko got his first, the floodgates seemed to open for him and he did not slow down.

In the first period, Erik Karlsson opened up the scoring for the Sharks, netting his 23rd of the year. There's no doubt, Karlsson is having a wonderful year on the offensive side, and really it has been a bit of a rebirth of his career. He was sought after when he was in Ottawa for his excellent offensive skills, and after a few injury filled years with San Jose, he finally is having a great year. Not only a great year, but a new career high. Karlsson is sitting at 98 points, and has eclipsed his goal total from previous years. I was surprised to see that Karlsson has never played more than 56 games in a season since joining the Sharks, but not many saw this coming from him in his 32nd year.


Not long after that, Rantanen followed up on a nice rush and rebound by Nathan MacKinnon and slammed it home for his 50th of the season. You could really tell how much this meant to Moose and his team mates. MacKinnon emphatically hugged his linemate, and Samuel Girard rushed into the net to grab the puck for his friend to remember the moment.

Starting into the 2nd period, the Avs piled it on and Evan Rodrigues grabbed the puck from behind the Sharks net, and came out front. ERod totally faked the goalie out who went down to make a desperation save, and he actually passed off to Rantanen who put a beautiful backhander into the top shelf.

Nathan MacKinnon, having helped Rantanen finally hit 50 goals, would not be undersold! He put a harmless looking shot through a screen near the blueline, and it eluded the Sharks goalie Kahkonen going 5 hole out of nowhere. Not the most beautiful shot, but effective, bringing the score to 3-1 Avalanche.

Back to the Mikko show! MacKinnon picked up a pass coming into the zone from Devon Toews, and saw a beautiful clear passing lane to Rantanen who was waiting on the other side of the net uncontested. Rants choked down on his stick and took a knee to ensure he could get a hard pass into the net, which he did for his 3rd goal of the game.

After the Sharks come back and scored not even a minute later, Ben Meyers of all people decided he would put this game away and scored his 2nd and 3rd of the year to close this game out.

Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen both ended up with 4 points, Rantanen with 3 goals and 1 assist, and MacKinnon with the opposite. It was great to see Ben Meyers get on the board and bring some offense as well. He's played well enough in his call ups, but just hasn't brought any offense to the NHL club, so it was great to see him toss the monkey off his back.

The Avalanche are going to close up the road trip by facing the LA Kings on Saturday, and the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, April 9th. They currently sit on top of the Central, and have locked in their place in the playoffs.

NOTES: Some interesting news on the injury front... Landeskog, Josh Manson, Lehkonen and Francouz all are on the trip with the Avalanche. HC Jared Bednar mentioned that Pavel Francouz is the closest to returning, but there are also rumors going around that Landeskog is about ready to go. Seeing him skating has me a little more reserved than that. We'll have to wait and see. Cale Makar and Darren Helm are still out with unrelated lower body issues, but they also may be resting them in preparation for the playoffs.

The Avalanche take on the Kings tomorrow, and look to put on another win on the record, after going 12-3 in their last 15 games.

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