Avalanche hold off Senators 5-4 for 4th straight victory

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, Lars Eller scored a strange deciding goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory. Colorado defenseman Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller, Valeri Nichushkin and Evan Rodrigues also scored. Nathan MacKinnon had three assists, and Jonas Johansson stopped 31 shots. Drake Batherson, Shane Pinto, Travis Hamonic and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa. On what the Senators appeared to think was icing against the Avalanche, the puck bounced off the end boards and was in the corner of the crease by goalie Mads Sogaard’s pad. Eller skated in and jammed the puck past a confused group of Senators.