Avalanche ride three power-play goals to win

DENVER -- Goals were scarce and losses piled up for the Colorado Avalanche, but they found a way to solve both problems.

Get on the power play against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Centers Ryan O'Reilly and Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist each, goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 35 shots, and the Avalanche beat the Blue Jackets 5-3 Tuesday night.

Defenseman Jan Hejda and left wingers Jamie McGinn and Gabriel Landeskog added goals to help the Avalanche stop a four-game losing streak.

Colorado (24-11-4) went 3-for-3 on the power play, the first time the Avalanche were perfect on the man advantage this season.

"I don't think five-on-five we played our best game tonight, but our power play was huge for us," O'Reilly said, "and it came at crucial times to give us momentum."

Center Ryan Johansen and left winger Nick Foligno had a goal and assist each for the Blue Jackets (17-19-4). Center Boone Jenner also scored, and goalie Curtis McElhinney had 18 saves for Columbus, which dropped its second straight despite controlling the play most of the game.

"We outshot them and out-chanced them and still came up short," center Mark Letestu said. "There a lot of positives, but it's not good enough. Our penalty kill's got to step up. Last two games we've been burned pretty good."

The Avalanche earned points but not wins over the past 10 days. Two shootout losses and an overtime setback gave them their longest losing streak of the season.

Earning three points in the skid helped take some of the sting away.

"We got some points, we've been right there, but for us to respond and bury our chances (Tuesday) makes a world of difference," O'Reilly said.

Columbus was playing well of late. The Blue Jackets won three straight, including two road games, before falling to Pittsburgh at home Sunday.

But like Tuesday, the penalty kill was their downfall against the Penguins.

"That's two games in a row we've given up three goals," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "You're not going to win any games in this league if you're giving up three goals on the power play."

The Blue Jackets carried the play for the first two periods. They wound up outshooting Colorado 38-23 despite trailing on the scoreboard much of the way.

"We didn't have our legs at the start of the game. We didn't have the start that we expected," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "I'll give credit to them, they played really well at the start of the game. We had another outstanding performance from our goalie."

Columbus took a 2-1 lead near the midway point of the second when Jenner batted in left winger Blake Comeau's shot from the point for his fifth goal of the season.

The Avalanche, who managed just five shots on goal in the second, made a couple of them count. They tied it when McGinn backhanded center Matt Duchene's shot through McElhinney's legs at 12:04.

Duchene had two assists.

O'Reilly gave Colorado a 3-2 lead -- its first lead since Dec. 23 -- when he scored on the power play 2:38 after McGinn's goal. It was O'Reilly's 13th of the season.

The Avalanche went up 4-2 on Landeskog's power-play goal at 8:10 of the third, but Foligno knocked in a rebound 37 seconds later to get Columbus within one again.

The Blue Jackets were pressing for the equalizer before Foligno went off for tripping with 1:30 left in the game. MacKinnon scored 26 seconds later to ice it.

"When we do move the puck around, change sides and let the puck do the job, it's going to open up seams," Landeskog said. "Tonight we capitalized."

The Blue Jackets outshot the Avalanche 26-15 in the last two periods despite being down a player. Right wing Jack Skille played one shift in the second period before leaving with an upper-body injury.

NOTES: Avalanche RW P.A. Parenteau is expected to miss up to six weeks after suffering a second-degree sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee Sunday. Parenteau's skate tangled with Winnipeg D Jacob Trouba late in the second period when the injury occurred. C Brad Malone took his place in the lineup Tuesday. ... Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky (groin) started skating but is still not ready to return to action. ... Blue Jackets assistant coach Dan Hinote was honored by the Avalanche before the game. Hinote played his first six seasons in Colorado and helped the Avalanche win the 2001 Stanley Cup. ... The Blue Jackets recalled C Ryan Craig from AHL Springfield.