MacKinnon Records 1,100th NHL Point as Avalanche Defeats Capitals 5-2

Milestone Monday

Nathan MacKinnon became the 70th player in NHL history to join the 1,110-point club with a two-goal, one-assist game to help the Avalanche defeat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on Monday at Ball Arena. Parker Kelly, Victor Olofsson and Artturi Lehkonen all added tallies for Colorado, while Martin Necas posted two assists. In net for the Avalanche, Scott Wedgewood stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced.

"When you're around him every day, and see how he works, and how professional he is and how dialed in he is in every aspect of his career, it doesn't shock me at all," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said when asked if there's anything MacKinnon does that surprises him. "But when you just kind of sit back and look at the numbers and how consistent he's able to produce and still play hard on the defensive side of the puck, there's not much he's lacking in his game, right? So, when you kind of take a bird's-eye view of it, he impresses me every day. And he shocks me every day. But, like anything else, if you're around it every day, you sort of come to expect it. [It] doesn't make it any easier for him to continue to do that, you just kind of expect like, 'well why didn't he get three points tonight?' It's kind of where it's at. He's had a hell of a career to this point, and there's no signs of him slowing down. I'm sure he's well on his way to another however many points he's gonna get."

With the win, the Avalanche improved to 34-5-8.

"I liked [our effort the whole game]," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "And [the] mentality and commitment to check the right way."

How It Happened

Kelly opened the scoring at 5:54 of the first period with his career-best ninth goal of the season via a deflection on Makar's shot from the point after the defenseman changed directions to create space at the blueline.

Jakob Chychrun tied the game for Washington with a power-play goal at 7:27 of the first period via a shot from the point.

The Avs took the lead on hte power play when MacKinnon scored his 37th goal of the season via a right-circle shot off the rush.

Olofsson doubled Colorado's lead at 15:58 of the second period with his ninth goal of the season via a shot from the left doorstep off a rebound.

Washington's Ethen Frank made it a 3-2 game with a backhand shot from the doorstep at 16:15 of the second period.

Makar temporarily gave the Avs a 4-2 lead at 11:04 of the third period but the goal was taken off the board after a successful challenge for goaltender interference.

At 12:32 of the third period, Lehkonen made it 4-2 with his 16th goal of the season via a shot from the left doorstep set up by MacKinnon. With the assist on the goal, MacKinnon passed Peter Stastny for the second-most multi-point games in franchise history (314).

MacKinnon gave the Avs a 5-2 lead with his second goal of the game and 38th of the season for the 1,100th point of his career at 16:30 of the third period via a shot from the doorstep set up by Necas.

Next Up

The Avalanche hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MT on Altitude, Altitude+ and Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM.