Nathan MacKinnon is unquestionably the Hart frontrunner

It felt like the last day of class before holiday break. Before it was pencils down, the Avs still had some assignments to turn in before they could receive a passing grade.

Once a top contender coming out the West to start the year, the L.A. Kings have struggled lately, but Colorado knew not to underestimate the competition.

The Kings are still a stacked team and their analytics and play are better than their latest record has shown.

Just one game remained before the All-Star game break.

To ensure success, Colorado made a point to set the tone early. Their dominance early made it impossible for the Kings to climb back in, and the Avs won 5-1.

“We need him,” Nathan MacKinnon said of Alexandar Georgiev after the Washington game. “If we’re going to win, we need Georgie to be Georgie and he’s been solid lately.”

Georgiev earned the start and helped the Avs generate offense early.

You read that right. He started the breakout with Sam Girard who got the puck to Logan O’Connor streaking toward the offensive blueline.

O’Connor walked in and wristed the puck from the top of the left-circle past Cam Talbot under eight minutes into the contest.

Later O’Connor’s line continued to bring the energy. Ross Colton forced Drew Doughty to cough up the puck behind the net to Miles Wood. Wood dropped the puck back to O’Connor inside the left-circle and he sniped it for his second of the night.

O’Connor is two points shy of matching his career best in points and he has 33 games to get there.

Before the first period ended, Jonathan Drouin skated the puck in on entry and slipped it back to MacKinnon. MacKinnon took the puck, skated between two LA defenders, and whipped the puck to the back of the net.

MacKinnon has a point in all 25 home games heading into the All-Star break. His 25-game run from the start of the season is tied with Bobby Orr for the second-longest home point-streak in NHL history.

He’s recorded 11 points over his last three contests, the most by an Avalanche player through a three-game span since Peter Forsberg in 2001.

He’s on a 141 point pace. Any and all Hart conversations should start with him.

Cam Talbot was pulled by the Kings and David Rittich entered the game.

Colorado killed their first penalty of the night, but LA capitalized on their next opportunity in the second period.

A Kevin Fiala one-timer from the top of the left-circle got past them.

A few minutes later, even more Avs’ depth stepped up.

Josh Manson carried the puck in along the half-wall and dropped it back to Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano waited for Manson to get down low and tagged him up so that he could lift the puck over Rittich’s glove.

The Kings came on stronger in the second, but Colorado built such a solid lead in the first period it was hard to match.

Thirty seconds into the third period, Colorado earned their third powerplay opportunity of the game.

Colton won the o-zone draw and MacKinnon got the puck back to Cale Makar out high. Makar wristed the puck from the top of the slot and it bounced off a body and in.

With his second point of the night, MacKinnon also moved back to the top of the league in points ahead of Nikita Kucherov with 84 points.

Six calls preceded Makar’s goal, so there was a little bit of weird hockey inside the third period, but the Avs continued a consistent, steady effort in the face of it all.

The penalty kill stopped four of L.A.’s five chances. Georgiev also made incredibly timely saves.

He finished with a 0.963 save percentage and got on the scoresheet. He provided saves when the Avs needed them even got on the scoresheet.

“That’s what I want to see out of our guy,” said Jared Bednar. “Just make the saves you’re supposed to make, mix in a few of the really tough ones, and you’ll give us a really good chance to win.”

The details were dialed in.

L.A. lost the shots battle, but they created comparable high-danger chances (9-10), so it was a strong game for everyone from the net out.

Bednar said that their sweet spot for high-danger chances-allowed is under 15.

“We’ve been good the last month or so on the defensive side, keeping pucks out of our net and trying to give our goalie a better chance,” Rantanen added.

Colorado finished 7-3-0 in their last stretch of ten games.

The battle in the Central division will continue to be close coming out of the All-Star break. The Avs are first in the division with 67 points, but Winnipeg and Dallas have games in hand.

“I thought we played two really good games to finish this stretch. (I) hope we get some rest and come back strong,” MacKinnon said.

Bednar affirmed MacKinnon’s sentiment. They’re at a point in the season where he’ll nitpick the details to fine tune the nuances of their game.

O’Connor corroborated the importance of hammering away at the details postgame too.

Everyone seems to be pulling the rope in the same direction.

Andrew Cogliano addressed it at morning skate.

“As we go here every day, every game, every segment, it seems like we’re believing more and more,” he started. “Sometimes building a team and having a team that’s there at the end takes a long time. It takes the whole season, it takes a process to do that.

We’re getting there, we’re not there yet.

We’re still finding our way in certain parts of the game. With how our top guys are playing, with how our role guys have accepted their roles, (how we have have) focused on doing the right things, how we’re coached, and goaltending – we keep progressing and keep doing what we’re doing. We add players, get players back at some point, (and) you feel really good about yourself going into the playoffs.”

Cogliano’s comments foreshadowed a pending move.

Colorado signed Zach Parise to a one-year contract through the remainder of the season less than two hours before puck drop.

The veteran winger came off a 21 goal season and didn’t find a home in the offseason. He’s kept up with his conditioning and everyone from the players, coaching staff, and front office is excited to have him.

“He’s a highly dedicated player when it comes to his habits – they’re elite, a lot like Cogliano in that,” Bednar said. “(He’s) an older guy that’s been around – great leadership… He’s played 82 games the last couple of years. It’s because he takes care of himself off the ice and has those types of habits that we really like. He chips in offensively. He does a great job as a trusted guy on the defensive side.”

Parise should join the group at the end of the All-Star break. He’s expected to get on the ice with the group unofficially on Friday or Saturday, but he’ll be a part of the team practice that Sunday.

While Val Nichushkin is away from the team, the addition of Parise will balance out the forward group even more.

The team might look a little different when they return from break, but it’s hard to take one look at this monster of a group and suspect they don’t just get even stronger with more help.