The Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 7-2 with a hat trick from Cale Makar. After a couple of trades were made to shake up the Avalanche roster earlier in the day, four players had multi-point games in the 7-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night. Cale Makar scored his first career hat trick after coming out of a rut and, what Jared Bednar called, a "blip on the radar." “It’s pretty cool. I’ve never really had an experience like that in my career obviously, so just take that in. I think the bigger thing is we got the win, so that’s kind of all that matters to me,” Makar said after the win. While Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and three assists of his own, he was happy his teammate hit another milestone. “Awesome. Best defensemen in the world. He’s been playing so great lately and I think he was just due. A lot of posts, a lot of knobs and it’s nice to see him get a hat trick. He looks great,” MacKinnon said after the win. Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist on four shots. The Quebec native scored his first goal since Jan. 13 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday and said that hopefully helped his confidence. "I feel like his work ethic and commitment on the defensive side of it is leading to some good chances. Both the goal the other night and the goal tonight doing the right things on both ends of the rink," head coach Jared Bednar said about his forward. "One thing I'll say with him is that if he wants to score I think he's got to continue to shoot the puck a little bit and that's what he's done here recently. Like that's a 2-on-1 — he could have forced a pass or made a nice play, has ability to do that. And he sees something he likes at the net and he likes to shoot it and he's got a great shot and if he uses it a little bit more, he'll score a little bit more." Earlier in the day, the organization announced the trades of Bowen Byram and Ryan Johansen [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/how-mittelstadt-walker-affect-avalanche-roster]. Although players were personally affected by these moves, there was still a game to be played. "Just trying to play well. You know you prepare the last couple of days for tonight's game, so you don't want to waste it by having your mind wander. And yeah, ready to get the win at the end of the day," MacKinnon said. Mikko Rantanen racked up four points while Jean-Luc Foudy scored his first ever NHL goal. Artturi Lehkonen contributed another goal and Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves. The Avalanche lineup against the Minnesota Wild on Friday will look a bit different with new players and the possible return of Valeri Nichushkin. RECENT COLORADO AVALANCHE ARTICLES 'There might even be another level to his game': How Mittelstadt, Walker affect Avalanche roster [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/how-mittelstadt-walker-affect-avalanche-roster] Avalanche trade Ryan Johansen to Flyers for Sean Walker [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/avalanche-trade-ryan-johansen-to-flyers-for-sean-walker] Bednar's line changes successful for Avalanche against Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/bednars-line-changes-earn-avalanche-success-against-blackhawks]
