Avalanche 5, Lightning 4: Nathan MacKinnon snapped a 13-game goalless drought by recording his first career hat trick as Colorado held off a late rally by visiting Tampa Bay.

Matt Duchene and Alex Tanguay also tallied while Ryan O’Reilly contributed a pair of assists for the Avalanche, who won for the fourth time in their last five games. Semyon Varlamov turned aside 28 shots in his 16th consecutive start for Colorado, which nearly let a three-goal lead get away late.

Tyler Johnson netted a goal and set up two others while Nikita Kucherov scored with 1:02 left to cut the deficit to one and added an assist for the Lightning, who finished their Western road trip with a 3-2-0 record. Ondrej Palat and Brett Connolly also scored while rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy made only 13 saves in losing his second straight start.

Palat finished a give-and-go with Johnson 10:53 into the game to open the scoring, but MacKinnon burst up the middle and flipped a backhander past Vasilevskiy at 16:21 to tie it. The 2014 Calder Trophy winner scored on a deflection 3:10 into the second to give the Avalanche the lead for good while Duchene capitalized on a turnover and beat Vasilevskiy from the slot 29 seconds later to make it 3-1.

Johnson knocked in a rebound at 5:51 of the middle session before MacKinnon completed his hat trick with a wrist shot with 7:10 to go in the period after O’Reilly sprung him up the middle. Tanguay extended the advantage 7:20 into the third, converting a backhand pass from Dennis Everberg.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Avalanche had a 41-24 advantage in the faceoff circles, led by Duchene (10-4) and O’Reilly (15-7). … Colorado D Jan Hejda missed the game with a knee injury and is considered day-to-day. … MacKinnon had not scored since Jan. 17 in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Lightning. … Palat finished with four goals and three assists on Tampa Bay's road trip.