Nathan MacKinnon makes Red Wings look silly in blowout Avs win

The chant came soon after his second goal of the game, 38th of the season and 89th point – all in just his 64th game of the season.

Emm. Vee. Pee.

For Nathan MacKinnon, it was another Hart-worthy performance Sunday afternoon in the Colorado Avalanche’s 5-1 victory over the artists formerly known as the Detroit Red Wings.

“If we get to the playoffs, for me, he’s the MVP,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I can’t imagine there’s another player that means more to their team and doing more for their team than what Nate’s doing for us. He is the driving force to our offense.”

MacKinnon’s two goals and assist led the way for the Avs against a surprisingly tough Wings team at the Pepsi Center, a good portion of which was filled with red and white, Stub-Hub Michigan transplants, as usual.

His second goal of the game, a brilliant and lucky goal, on the wraparound after he fanned on his original shot attempt and had a shot deflected in by Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson, gave the Avs the extra breathing room they needed in a game that had been controlled too much of the time to that point by the Wings. That’s what the “MVP” chants started in earnest, and why not.

MacKinnon is, without question, the Avs’ most valuable player right now – and arguably in the league.

“I could be wrong, but you’ve got to get into the playoffs. Then, I think he becomes the lead candidate,” Bednar said.

With 10 games to go in the regular season, the Avs hold the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, but it’s still tighter than the slacks on a 1970s disco dancer. Teams such as Anaheim and St. Louis are still right in the hunt, and other teams such as Dallas and Los Angeles won’t be easy to overcome. But if the Avs keep getting play like this from MacKinnon, the odds of the team’s first playoff appearance in four years go way up.

The Avs got the Wings’ backup goalie, Jared Coreau, and for the first two periods anyway, that was a blessing. Colorado was outshot 21-20 in the first 40 minutes, but had a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Gabe Landeskog, Blake Comeau and MacKinnon.

Coreau was beaten by Landeskog’s tip of MacKinnon’s point shot at 3:58 of the first, getting the Avs out to the kind of quick lead they failed to do the other night against Nashville. The Avs were definitely the better team in the first period, outshooting Detroit 12-5.

The lead was upped to 2-0 at 14:38 of the second on Comeau’s 12th goal, a redirection of Carl Soderberg’s lead pass on a break-in.

The second-period scoreboard was 1-1, but the Wings were the better team this time. The Wings put 16 shots on Semyon Varlamov, to just eight for the Avs. Justin Abdelkader scored on one, a rebound putback after some sloppy defensive-zone work by the Avs’ fourth line. Alexander Kerfoot turned the puck over right before Abdelkader committed Varlamov before firing a shot up high. That cut the Avs’ lead to 3-1.

Previously, MacKinnon gave the Avs a 3-0 lead with a great backhander to the top shelf after a big rush down the left side. MacKinnon beat Wings defenseman Danny  Dekeyser down the wing to be able to get off his backhander, to the far post.

Tyson Barrie added a late, 5-on-3 power-play goal to make it a 5-1 game and send the Detroit transplants back to their Colorado homes.

The Avs got a surprise return from Erik Johnson, who hit someone on his first shift and wound up playing 19 minutes, 52 seconds.

OTHER NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• Bednar said goalie Jonathan Bernier (head) should be back soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won’t be available for Tuesday’s game in Chicago, in fact. If not, it should be right after that.
• Vladislav Kamenev played his second game of the season and first in several months, playing 10:03. He didn’t do a whole lot, finishing minus-1, but Bednar said he thought he did OK for a guy who has such little experience.
• With Johnson’s return, the Avs scratched Duncan Siemens.
• Colorado wrapped up its season series against the Red Wings, finishing 2-0-0 for the first season sweep over Detroit in Avalanche history (since 1995-96).
  The Avs are 15-2-1 in their last 18 games at Pepsi Center and 25-9-2 on home ice overall this season, their 52 points earned at home tied for the fifth-most of any team in the league in 2017-18.
  The Avalanche scored five or more goals in a game for the 19th time this season, 13 of which have come at Pepsi Center. Colorado’s 3.67 goals-per-game average on home ice ranks second in the league, trailing only Winnipeg (3.91).
  The Avalanche finished 3-for-3 on the penalty kill to extend its streak to 18 straight kills. Colorado has allowed a league-low eight power-play goals at home (106-for-114, 93.0%), the best home penalty kill in the league. Following today’s performance, the Avs PK unit is now also the best overall in the league (209-for-248, 84.3%).
  Colorado improved to 5-4-2 in day games and 4-1-1 at home.
  The Avs are 33-6-3 when scoring first, tied for the third-most wins in the NHL when notching the game’s first tally.
  Tyson Barrie extended his point streak to a career-long 10 games (5g, 8a), the longest streak by a defenseman in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). Barrie surpassed the previous marks set by Kevin Shattenkirk and John-Michael Liles, who both had ninegame runs during the 2010-11 season.
  Barrie’s streak is the longest by an NHL defenseman this season and the longest by a league blueliner since Philadelphia’s Shayne Gostisbehere registered a point in 15 straight games from Jan. 19-Feb. 20, 2016. Barrie leads NHL defensemen in scoring since Feb. 20 with 19 points (6g, 13a) in his last 14 outings.
  Barrie’s tally was his 50th point this season, making him just the fourth defenseman in franchise history to produce two 50-point seasons (Sandis Ozolinsh had four, Rob Blake and Jeff Brown each had two).

  Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to 12 games, the longest streak by an Avalanche player since MacKinnon himself had points in 13 straight contests during his rookie campaign in 2013-14. The streak is the second-longest active run in the league behind Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine (14 games). MacKinnon has scored at least one goal in four straight contests (6g) and is now tied for second in the league with 89 points (38g, 51a).
  MacKinnon has recorded three or more points 13 times this season, the most by an Avalanche player since Peter Forsberg did it 14 times in 2002-03 and the most by any NHL player this season. Of those 13 performances, 11 have come at home.
  MacKinnon continues to pace the league in scoring at home with 63 points (26g, 37a) in 34 contests, the most by an Avalanche player since Joe Sakic registered 67 points on home ice in 2000-01. It’s also the most points by a player in his own building since Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin had 67 in 2011-12.
  MacKinnon finished with 11 shots, which matches a franchise high for shots in a game (7x – last: Ryan Smyth, Oct. 16, 2007 vs. Calgary).
  Mikko Rantanen extended his point/assist streak to six contests. His 77 points are the most by a Colorado right wing since Milan Hejduk had 98 during the 2002-03 season.
  MacKinnon (9g, 9a) and Rantanen (5g, 13a) are tied for the lead league in scoring for the month of March with 18 points.
  Nikita Zadorov registered seven hits for the second consecutive game. He now has 228 this season, which is an Avalanche single-season record for most hits by a defenseman and ranks third in the NHL in 2017-18.
  Zadorov also tallied an assist, his 13th of the season and a new career high.
  Gabriel Landeskog finished with three points (1g, 2a), his fifth performance with three or more points this season. The Avalanche captain has totaled seven points (2g, 5a) in his last three outings.
  Blake Comeau notched his sixth multi-point game of the season, his most since 201516 (also six). He also registered his third game-winning tally of 2017-18.
  Colorado is 19-10-2 against the Eastern Conference this season and 9-2-1 in its last 12 outings against opponents from the East.
  Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson skated in his 600th NHL contest.

  Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon On Getting The Win: “We need points. Every game is so big for us. You know, we felt like we didn’t really get set back with that one loss to Nashville on Friday night. The schedule is pretty busy here now. We play three games in almost three-and-a-half, four days but we’re ready, we’re in good shape. But yeah, I mean, the two points is big.”
  On His First Goal: “It was a good breakout by Landy (Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog). I kind of had an isolation one-on-one. I think it hit his stick or something. I got lucky on two of my goals [today] but I’ll take it.”

• Colorado D Erik Johnson On Colorado G Semyon Varlamov’s Performance: “He was awesome. Coming back from his injury, which I’m sure was kind of weighing on him a little bit from what he missed last year, he’s been really stellar. You know, that’s a heavy workload for a goalie. We get to sit down every minute and he has to stand the whole game so, great job by him and he’s playing lights out and we’re going to need him to going forward.”
  On Returning From His Injury: “I felt good, all things considered. The pace of the game was good, conditioning was fine, never thought that’d be an issue, you know, just trying to be simple and quick. When you first get back from an injury, that type of deal, so I felt good and I’m sure after [today], I’ll keep getting better.”
• Colorado D Tyson Barrie On The Team’s Confidence: “I think right now we are feeling very confident. Even in the game against Nashville, I thought we played really hard, you know, it could have went either way so we are playing some really good hockey. Obviously, Nate’s (Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon) playing on another level this year, Mikko (Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen), Varly (Colorado G Semyon Varalmov), you know getting EJ (Colorado D Erik Johnson) back is huge. A lot of guys are going great, our whole team is going good so it gives us a lot of confidence going into this final stretch.”
  On The Team’s Mindset Of Having Fun Playing Right Now: “I think that’s the feeling for sure, especially at home it’s been like that all year. You know, you’d be crazy if you didn’t say Nate (Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon) was the catalyst for our team. He’s been cranking it every night and again [today], he was unbelievable. And Mikko (Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen), Gabe (Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog), they’ve been so reliable for us all year. We get the secondary scoring and everything just seems to be rolling. You know what, we are feeling good, it’s a confident team, it’s a lot of fun to be playing hockey right now.”
• Detroit C Henrik Zetterberg On Today’s Loss: “The fourth one is obviously a killer, but we had a lot of chances. I don’t know how many shots we ended up with, but it’s tough when we don’t get any production.”

  On Detroit’s Performance: “There hasn’t [been any quit]. That part I am proud of, I think the guys are working hard. They put the time in, long game days and we prepare ourselves for every game. Almost makes it a little tough that we have lost 10 in a row. That’s the only thing we can do here when we are so far back. Every time you put on the Red Wings logo you go out and play the hardest you can.”
  Detroit D Nick Jensen On Colorado G Semyon Varlamov’s Performance: “We heard he’s a great goaltender and obviously we saw it tonight. All these teams pushing for playoffs spots have great goaltending. We have obviously had great goaltending up here too, but you have to give him credit. We threw pucks at him and he fended them away.”
  On Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon’s Line: “They’re fast, they’re skilled. I think we saw it multiple times, he gets the puck and his first three strides are straight up the ice and it’s hard to keep up with him but we knew that going in. I think you might have saw some of the wear and tear of the long road trip on some of those, but that’s not an excuse. Every team goes through it and we have to find a way as a defensive core to keep those guys in front of us.”