CALGARY www.officialcanadiensprostore.com , Alberta — In recent years, the Colorado Avalanche may have been a game Calgary season-ticket holders took a pass on — but no longer.Possibly the NHL’s most explosive line pays a visit to Alberta starting with a tilt in Calgary on Thursday.Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon lead a resurgent Avalanche.Article continues below ...Rantanen had the league’s scoring lead entering Wednesday’s game with 12 goals and 16 assists. MacKinnon was fifth (9g, 9a) and Landeskog ninth (10g, 6a).The Avalanche are tied for second in the Western Conference with a 7-3-2 record.“I think we’re one of the top teams in the league in the standings,” Rantanen told nhl.com. “I know its early, but still, other teams have to look for us and be ready for us. I think we’re playing good hockey now. It’s still early and there are a lot of games left, so we just have to be consistent.”Calgary is returning home from a very successful two-game trip to Toronto and Buffalo, where they scored late in regulation each night then won in overtime.Matthew Tkachuk tipped in the tying goal with 54 seconds remaining in the third period and Johnny Gaudreau won it 2:40 in overtime.The Flames are 7-5-1 and were seventh in the Western Conference as of Wednesday morning.While the Flames are coming off back-to-back games on the road, the Avalanche are coming off a nice little rest period. They last played on Saturday, losing 3-2 in Minnesota.“Rest is the big, main thing coming out of the seven (games) in 12 (days),” head coach Jared. Bednar told nhl.com. “They had a couple days of rest. We had a good day of practice (Tuesday). We’ll have short one (Wednesday) before we fly off. Then we go back-to-back (games), and they’ll get some rest again and then put them to work and get ready for the next stretch.”The Avalanche will fly to Vancouver after Thursday’s game to face the Canucks on Friday.While the Avalanche are rested, the Flames have been busy. They finish up a stretch of six games in nine days on Saturday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.They have recovered with the two road wins after losing 9-1 to Pittsburgh and 4-3 in OT to Washington at home.“We’re getting where we want to be Montreal Canadiens T-Shirts Authentic ,” captain Mark Giordano told reporters in Buffalo. “Tonight was solid again, I didn’t think we gave up much. We’re getting to where we know what to expect out of each other defensively and we’re not cheating on offence and that’s resulting in wins.”Gaudreau is again the player to watch for Calgary. He’s off to a fast start with six goals and 10 assists in 13 games. Calgary’s top goal scorer so far is Elias Lindholm, who was acquired in the offseason from Carolina.“He’s one of those players that generates quality chances all the time,” Flames head coach Bill Peters told Postmedia News, whom he coached in Carolina. “Right now, they’re going in for him. Right now, he’s playing on a real good line with a good play-making winger and a center in Johnny and (Sean Monahan).“That’s the thing with Johnny — he makes a lot of plays. He buys guys time and Lindy’s done a good job of getting to the right spot at the right time.” COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Nick Foligno scored twice, Sergei Bobrovsky returned from a team suspension and stopped 22 shots and the Columbus Blue Jackets held off a late surge and defeated the New York Rangers 7-5 Sunday night.Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin each had a goal and an assist, Ryan Murray had two assists and nine other players picked up points in the offensive explosion for Columbus. But, two goals by the Rangers late in the third period turned it into a closer game.The Blue Jackets have won four of the last five, despite being terrible on the power play. They managed the wild victory over the Rangers despite coming up empty on five power plays.Mats Zuccarello had two goals, and Ryan Stome, Chris Kreider and Jimmy Vesey also scored for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev, spelling starter Henrik Lungqvist on the second night of a back-to-back, had 33 saves. New York has lost six of its last seven games.Anthony Duclair Montreal Canadiens Hoodies Authentic , Lukas Sedlak and David Savard also scored for the Blue Jackets, and Bobrovsky — who had been benched for Thursday’s game for violating a team policy and didn’t play in Saturday’s overtime win over Washington — wasn’t terrific, but held off the Rangers after they pulled the goalie for a sixth skater late in the game.ISLANDERS 5, LIGHTNING 1NEW YORK (AP) — Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck each had a goal and an assist, Thomas Greiss stopped 38 shots, and New York beat league-leading Tampa Bay.Brock Nelson, rookie Devon Toews and Josh Bailey also scored as New York had three goals in the opening five minutes and went on to get their 11th win in 14 games. Matt Martin had two assists to give each player on the Islanders‘ fourth line two points.Ryan McDonagh had a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 23 saves for Tampa Bay, which was 18-1-1 in its previous 20. The Lightning — the NHL leaders in wins (35), points (72) and road wins (16) — lost in regulation for just the ninth time this season, but second in the last five games.JETS 4, DUCKS 3, OTWINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Bryan Little scored at 4:49 of overtime as Winnipeg beat Anaheim and extended the Ducks‘ losing streak to a franchise-record 11 games.Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine and Ben Chiarot also scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves to help the Jets improve to 5-2-0 in their last seven games. They have won four straight at home.Brian Gibbons, Rickard Rakell and Andrew Cogliano scored and John Gibson stopped 30 shots for the Ducks. They are 0-7-4 during the skid.HURRICANES 6, PREDATORS 3RALEIGH Montreal Canadiens Hats Authentic , N.C. (AP) — Sebastian Aho had three goals and an assist to lead Carolina past Nashville.Justin Williams, Saku Maenalanen and Lucas Wallmark also scored for Carolina, which won for the seventh time in eight games and earned its fifth consecutive victory at home. Micheal Ferland had two assists.Nashville, which had earned at least a point in seven straight games, got two goals from Filip Forsberg and another from Colton Sissons. Goaltender Pekka Rinne was chased in the second period.CANUCKS 5, PANTHERS 1VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Loui Eriksson had a goal and two assists as Vancouver dealt Florida its sixth straight loss.Ben Hutton, Markus Granlund, Brock Boeser and Jay Beagle also scored for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.Frank Vatrano scored for the Panthers. Roberto Luongo had 31 saves.FLAMES 7, COYOTES 1CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mark Giordano had two goals and an assist in his 800th career game and Calgary routed Arizona.Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals, and Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary, which has won five straight and improved to 8-1-1 in its last 10.Jordan Oesterle scored for Arizona, which had its three-game winning streak halted.