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The Colorado Avalanche have come under fire this season for an anemic offense that has taken far too long to get going in games, often causing the team to play from behind, an exhausting uphill battle that had led to a number of games being lost before the team even found its legs.
Among the leaders in drawing criticism early on has been star forward Nathan MacKinnon, the number overall selection of the 2013 NHL Draft. The talented MacKinnon has struggled to score goals this year, despite leading the Avalanche in shots on goal by a country mile, as he has just five goals in the team’s first 19 games.
Against the Edmonton Oilers tonight, the speedy MacKinnon keyed the Avalanche offense in the first period, streaking down the ice like a blur and beating Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot with ease to put the Avs ahead 1-0 just 5:50 into the game. It was Colorado’s first first-period goal since November 1st.
MacKinnon added his second point of the night with a beautiful cross-ice pass to Rene Bourque, who one-timed the puck past Talbot for Colorado’s second goal of the first period. The Avalanche would eventually take a 3-2 lead into the third period but fell apart, giving up four goals in the game’s final frame en route to a 6-3 loss.
“Some bad d-zone coverage there,” MacKinnon said of the team’s porous third-period play. “They’re a good team off the rush. It killed us.”
While certainly understating it, he wasn’t incorrect in his assessment of the team’s play. The Avalanche gave up the game-tying goal to Milan Lucic just 32 seconds into the period, setting the tone for 20 minutes that would see Edmonton outshoot Colorado 14-5. The team’s collapse erased the good vibes from his two-point first period.
“I’ve been feeling good lately,” MacKinnon explained. “I had a good first period. I don’t think I played very well in the last two periods. Obviously, it’s nice to score but it’s pretty damning when you’re winning going into the third period. You kind of forget about that stuff.”
His head coach, Jared Bednar, was quick to agree with MacKinnon’s assessment of his play, maybe even allowing the star center more leeway than the player allowed himself.
“He was real good early,” Bednar said. “It’s gotta be 60 minutes. Can’t be 40 minutes. We need our whole team to go for 60.”
While not interested in making excuses, MacKinnon acknowledged some extremely questionable officiating, especially in the third period.
“Yeah…we had one or two power plays and they had a lot,” MacKinnon admitted. “That’s the way it is. They’re not perfect just like us. They’re human, too. We still have to kill the penalties.”
The no-excuses approach to the situation helps explain why the 21-year old is occasionally sporting an additional ‘A’ on his chest this season as he was named one of the team’s Alternate Captains by the coaching staff prior to the season starting.
Learning to embrace the leadership role has been a large part of his growth as a player this season. First, MacKinnon had to get his own house in order. After scoring just six points, and one goal, in the team’s first 11 games, MacKinnon has now registered nine points, including four goals, in the past eight games. Next, he looks to help his team figure out its third-period problems.
“We’ve played good in the third when we’ve been down,” MacKinnon said with a sigh. “When we get up a goal, just like Columbus, it turns into a rush on our heels. We’re not aggressive, we should be pressing and it just seems like we play better when we’re down in the third period and it’s something we have to correct.”
Tonight’s disappointment was Colorado’s first loss of the season in which the team entered the third period with a lead, dropping their record in such situations to 4-1-0, but there’s still plenty of work to be done as the Avalanche have routinely struggled to hang on to leads at any juncture of the game.
With a budding leadership role and given more responsibility than ever before, young Nathan MacKinnon is holding himself to the highest standard and making no excuses. The team’s failures are his failures and while it’s still a work in progress, there’s plenty of reason to be encouraged by MacKinnon’s accountability in a locker room that has occasionally lacked it.
