Mikko Rantanen's hat trick does trick for Colorado Avalanche against Nashville Predators

Thanks to back-to-backs, Saturday night was all about backup plans for the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche.

Both teams used their No. 2 goalies in Denver -- the Predators coming off a victory Friday against the Devils the Avalanche coming off a loss in Dallas.

David Rittich started his second game for Nashville in place of Juuse Saros, while Jonas Johansson started in place of Darcy Kuemper.

Mikko Rantanen chipped one past Rittich with 15 minutes, 19 seconds left in the first for a power-play goal and an early lead of what turned out to be a 6-2 victory for the Avalanche and the first of his three goals.

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The Predators didn't manage their first shot on goal until 9:48 into the period, and finished it with just four.

Rantanen added a another power-play goal with 2:23 left in the first.

Luke Kunin tipped in Eeli Tolvanen's shot with 15:16 left in the second to cut the deficit in half. But Bowen Byram's carbon-copy score 1:35 later put Colorado ahead 3-1.

Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm left the ice with a bloodied face after a skirmish with Gabriel Landeskog, in which the latter began punching before the former could begin to take his gloves off. Ekholm never dropped his gloves and was assessed a minor penalty, while Landeskog was given a two-minute minor, a five-minute major and a 10-minute misconduct.

The punishment didn't much matter. Valeri Nichushkin put the Avalanche ahead by three with 13:18 left in the third. Rantanan completed his hat trick 15:12 into the period.

Matt Duchene scored his 13th goal of the season with 3:32 remaining.

The Predators fell to 11-9-1, while the Avalanche moved to 11-6-1.

Reach Paul Skrbina at pskrbina@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @PaulSkrbina.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Colorado Avalanche beat Nashville Predators, Mikko Rantanen hat trick