Mikko Rantanen scored a hat trick and Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Samuel Girard each had two assists for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev allowed five goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Justus Annunen, who allowed two goals on four shots.

“No question, the biggest problem was the quick coverage and the fact that you had to go back on the ice when there were a few goals,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “They scored four goals on the attack. … The number of chances we missed wasn’t a problem. We did some good things throughout the game. Every time we got back into the game we made another mistake. And every mistake we made ended up in our own net.”

It was the start of the season for both teams.

Rantanen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 10:48 of the first period with a one-timer from above the left circle.

Just 27 seconds later, Olofsson made it 1-1 when his wrist shot from a tight angle below the left circle beat Georgiev near the side.

“I saw him cheat a little bit. I saw (Nicolas Roy) fighting in front of the net and I thought the goalkeeper was expecting a pass,” Olofsson said. “So I just tried to hit the net and it went in.”

Barbashev gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 18:32 with a snap shot from the right circle.

Stone made it 3-1 just 25 seconds later, completing a tackle with Eichel.