Avalanche tops Ducks in battle of Western Conference points leaders

DENVER — Gabe Landeskog scored his first goal of the season, Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the Western Conference’s points leaders.

Landeskog’s second-period goal, which gave Colorado a 2-1 lead, was his first in the regular season since March 5, 2022. The 32-year-old left wing had missed the entire 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, as well as the 2024-25 regular season, after undergoing a series of knee surgeries. After the goal, the home crowd serenaded him with chants of “Landy.”

Scott Wedgewood stopped 35 of the 36 Anaheim shots he faced for his NHL-leading 10th win of the season. It was the seventh time in 14 starts this season that Wedgewood has allowed one or fewer goals.

Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas and Parker Kelly also scored for Colorado, with Lehkonen’s goal coming just 28 seconds into the first period. MacKinnon’s three assists gave him 32 points for the season, the most in the NHL.

The loss snapped the Ducks’ seven-game win streak. With the win, the Avalanche is 6-0-1 in its past seven games and improved to 16-1-2 in its past 19 meetings against the Ducks.

Leo Carlsson scored his sixth goal in the past four games for Anaheim and recorded his 100th career point, making the 20-year-old the youngest player in Ducks history to reach that milestone. Troy Terry got his team-leading 15th assist of the season on Carlsson’s goal.

Lukas Dostal made 32 saves.

The one goal matched a season-low for the Ducks, who entered the game averaging an NHL-best 4.13 goals per game.

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.