DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored the tiebreaking goal with 10:58 remaining, Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves and the Colorado Avalanche rallied past the Boston Bruins 6-3 on Wednesday night in a showdown between two of the top scoring lines in the league.

MacKinnon sent a wrist shot by Jaroslav Halak after receiving a pass from Mikko Rantanen as the Avalanche rallied from a two-goal, second-period deficit. Colorado scored four goals in the third, with Tyson Jost and Alexander Kerfoot also scoring after Matt Calvert tied it earlier in the period.

Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog had goals as well.

Colorado’s top unit of Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantanen combined for six points to give them a league-leading 75 for the season.

The Bruins’ top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak contributed a goal and two assists to run their season total to 71 points.

Jake DeBrusk scored twice for the Bruins in the opener of a four-game trip. Halak finished with 19 saves.

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Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara suffered a lower body injury in the first period and didn’t return. He got tangled up with Carl Soderberg and looked to be favoring his left leg.

Calvert tied the score at 3 early in the third when he banked in a shot off the skate of a Bruins defenseman. It set the stage for MacKinnon, who used his speed to get ahead of the defense and knock in his 12th goal.

Trailing 5-3 late, Boston pulled Halak and the Avalanche sent a pass the length of the ice. David Krejci turned in one of the saves of the game by racing back and knocking the puck away just before ramming his body into the net.

Both teams scored power-play goals in the second – DeBrusk to give Boston a 3-1 lead and Rantanen to trim the deficit.

Colorado led 1-0 midway through the first after Landeskog scored off a backhand pass from Rantanen. The Bruins hit three posts in the period, but found the net on a tip-in from Pastrnak. DeBrusk cruised in all alone just 2:37 later and juked Varlamov for a goal. The breakaway was set up by a turnover from MacKinnon.


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