DENVER, CO – The reigning MVP of the NHL opened his follow up campaign right where he left off, and 13 games later, has showed no signs of slowing down. Nathan MacKinnon has been nothing short of spectacular for the Colorado Avalanche, and truthfully as close to perfect as one could be.
Colorado dominated from bell to bell at Ball Arena in a decisive 6-3 win over the Seattle Kraken, in huge part because of a career night by MacKinnon and a now 13-game point streak. With a career-high five assists, tying the single-game franchise record in the process (nine previous times). He also tied his own Avalanche team record for the longest such streak from 2019-20. The centerman closes the day with a share of the longest active point streak in the NHL. The five-assist game catapulted MacKinnon into sole possession of the most assists (19) and points (25) in the NHL. He also paces the circuit in multi-point games (9) and power-play points (12 – tied).
Colorado got something from everyone tonight in a truly complete team effort from bench to ice. Despite injuries and uncertainty in the net, the Avalanche maintained pace despite moments of waiver as the first bakers dozen of games proved to be a roller coaster. There was bad puck luck in games like Nashville where that small piece of vulcanized rubber seemed to defy physics. Near wins, that in the fading seconds, had the drama extended to overtime in order for relief from a 4 game slide to start the year. And untimely injuries that seemed to be a nightly occurrence. It was all leading to a game and an effort like what they got last night.
Cale Makar continued to play out of this world as his point streak equaled MacKinnon’s at 13 (2 assists) and matched his career-high in the process (also Feb. 13 – March 8, 2022).
Justus Annunen, who was unsuccessful in the game against Nashville, in my opinion to no fault of his own, was given the vote of confidence by Jared Bednar and the net again last night where he stopped 17 of 20 shots, not a massively busy night, but made the timely saves when needed. He was sharp when tested, especially when Seattle made a late push.
Mikko Rantanen who had been snake bit for goals as of late, shined in front of a sellout at Ball Arena. The first line winger found the net twice including a dramatic power play tally and a late empty netter. Both goals injected energy, and hope across the organization.
Arturi Lehkonen made his season debut in heroic fashion and wasted no time making an impact on the game. There was an inspired pace from the drop of the puck, and with the game tied at 2-2 in the second, his goal on the power play at 6:44 would prove to be the game winner. He would also add an assist on the goal into the empty net by Rantanen.
Depth scoring that was needed for relief came from the bottom six. Chris Wagner opened the scoring for the Avalanche, and then Ivan Ivan scored late in the first to give the home team a 2-1 lead after 20. A final nail in the coffin would come from Nikolai Kovalenko on the power play with Casey Mittlestadt and Josh Manson assisting.
But perhaps the biggest star of the night was sitting the farthest away from the ice. In conjunction with Cale Makar and Jared Bednar’s smarts, Brett Heimlich, the Avalanche video coach, identified that a challenged off side call by Seattle was in fact short sighted. Colorado countered the challenge with one of their own and it was reveled by video evidence that the puck was not off side since it entered the Seattle zone off a Seattle player. The result was the Rantanen goal standing, a moment that got him going, and a flip of the bad puck luck that had seemingly plagued the Avalanche.
This is the type of game Colorado needed to change the momentum. Perhaps the only moment of pause was the second period exit of Cale Makar. He took only a few shifts in the third, but the organization remains hopeful that it’s not a major issue. There will be more updates later Wednesday following practice.
The Avalanche will travel to Winnipeg for a one game trip before returning home to a tough test against Carolina on Saturday.
