Lehkonen and Necas score early in 3rd, MacKinnon tops 1,000 points as Avalanche beat Blackhawks 3-0

DENVER -- — Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas scored in the third period, Nathan MacKinnon topped 1,000 points for his career, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 on Monday night for their sixth straight win.

Joel Kiviranta added an empty-netter in the final minute, and Scott Wedgewood stopped 20 shots for his eighth career shutout and second this season. The Avalanche finished a perfect 6-0-0 homestand.

Spencer Knight finished with 18 saves as Chicago lost for the eighth time in 11 games (3-5-3).

MacKinnon r eached the milestone 31 seconds into the third on Lehkonen’s goal, and then got another assist nearly 3 minutes later when Necas made it 2-0.

MacKinnon appeared to get No. 1,000 earlier in the game with a first-period assist on a goal by Necas, but it was negated after a challeng for offside — knocking MacKinnon back to 999 points.

Takeaways

Blackhawks: As badly has this season has gone for Chicago, the Blackhawks hadn't been shut out. It finally happened in the team's 65th game.

Avalanche: Colorado wasn't exactly dominant against a Chicago team with the league's second-worst record, but once the Avalanche took a multigoal lead, it seemed pretty safe.

Key moment

Chicago had a two-man advantage for 1:52 in the middle of the second period after the Avalanche were called for two penalties in 8 seconds. But the Blackhawks couldn't score.

Key stat

MacKinnon became the 100th player to reach the 1,000-point club.

Up next

Blackhawks visit San Jose on Thursday, and Avalanche play at Minnesota on Tuesday.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL