Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 shots in his Colorado debut, and the Avalanche held off a late Nashville surge to beat the Predators 5-2 on Saturday night.
Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Artturi Leknonen scored twice and Ross Colton had a goal for the Avalanche.
Steven Stamkos and Luke Evangelista scored for Nashville, and Juuse Saros finished with 29 saves.
Colorado acquired Blackwood from San Jose on Monday and he made a great first impression in front of the home fans. He stopped the first 37 shots he faced before Stamkos scored with 6:57 remaining in the third.
Evangelista made it a one-goal game on a delayed penalty with 4:52 to go, MacKinnon and Lehkonen scored empty-net goals in the final 2 minutes to seal the win.
Defenseman Roman Josi missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury for Nashville.
Takeaways
Predators: The top line was buzzing despite not getting rewarded until Stamkos scored. Forsberg and Stamkos had five shots each and Jonathan Marchessault had three.
Avalanche: MacKinnon is heating up after a slow stretch. He had just one goal in 13 games in the last half of November but has scored five in December, including a goal in three straight games. He passed Michel Goulet for third on the franchise list in scoring with 948 points.
