DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon focused on his teammates in the first 10 games, but after getting challenged to be selfish the young center had a breakout game for the Colorado Avalanche.

MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each scored twice and had an assist, Rocco Grimaldi had a goal and an assist, and the Avalanche defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3 on Saturday night.

Sven Andrighetto also had a goal and an assist and Jonathan Bernier had 39 saves for the Avalanche (6-5-0), who bounced back after losing 7-0 at Vegas on Friday night.

MacKinnon came into Saturday with a goal and four assists but a pep talk with the coaching staff Saturday morning had him looking for his offense against Chicago.

"I need to be more aggressive," he said. "Ray (Bennett), our assistant coach, challenged me to be more aggressive and shoot more pucks. I got seven shots tonight. I haven't been passive but I need to stop looking for everybody and be a little selfish with my shooting. Being selfish is unselfish sometimes."

He doubled his season goal total in a little more than a period against the Blackhawks.

Artem Anisimov, Nick Schmaltz and Ryan Hartman scored for Chicago (5-5-2), which has lost three straight and five of its last six. Corey Crawford had seven saves after replacing Anton Forsberg in net. Forsberg yielded five goals on 20 shots.

The Blackhawks aren't panicking after a tough stretch.

"We're confident," captain Jonathan Toews said. "We know we've got a great team in here. We've got to learn from this and we've got to grow. I think everyone has to settle in do your own job simplify and limit our mistakes."

Bernier had to come up big in the second half of the game but it was MacKinnon who got Colorado rolling. He factored into the Avalanche's first four goals to have his first true breakout game of the season.

Rantanen, who turns 21 on Sunday, made it 1-0 at 3:42 of the first when MacKinnon checked Jan Rutta off the puck behind the Chicago net. Later in the first, after Brandon Saad hit the post on a short-handed chance, Alexander Kerfoot left a drop pass for MacKinnon as he entered the zone, and his blast beat Forsberg high at 15:20.

The period ended with Rantanen scoring an unassisted goal at 19:56 after MacKinnon's shot nearly trickled in before it was pushed out of the crease.

"We hit the post and then it's 2-0," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "It could have been 1-1 and they score in the dying seconds of the first. As bad as the first period was it wasn't horrendous. Chances were 4-3."

MacKinnon made it 4-0 when he scored on a 2-on-1 rush with linemate Gabriel Landeskog 2:56 into the second.

"I think we had good chemistry with our line," Rantanen said. "We were working their (defense) down low and it was our best game 5-on-5."

Andrighetto's goal at 6:44 made it 5-0 and chased Forsberg.

The goal change gave the Blackhawks a spark. They outshot the Avalanche 13-4 the rest of the period and got a couple goals to make it closer heading into the third.

Schmaltz scored the first one when he redirected a shot by Michal Kempny 1:09 after Andrighetto scored. Anisimov made it 5-2 when he scored on an odd-man rush at 14:05.

"You knew Chicago was going to come and push in the third period," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We did a good job there. I didn't like parts of our second, but we were killing some penalties there too."

Bernier made a save on Hartman early in the third to keep it 5-2, and then Grimaldi, who was recalled Friday from San Antonio of the AHL, made it a four-goal game with his first of the season at 8:45.

Hartman completed the scoring at 15:05.

NOTES: Chicago D Gustav Forsling (upper body) didn't play after the first period. ... D Nikita Zadorov was a healthy scratch for Colorado. ... LW Andrew Agozzino, recalled from San Antonio on Friday, was also a healthy scratch. ... The Blackhawks scored their first short-handed goal Friday night and nearly got another one on LW Brandon Saad's shot that hit the post in the first period. ... D Tyson Barrie's assist on Sven Andrighetto's goal was his 200th career point.