Starry Night: MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen Reflect on All-Star Weekend

So long, South Florida.
Following a weekend of sun and festivities in Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise, Florida for the 2023 NHL Honda All Star Game, the Colorado Avalanche trio of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen are headed back to Denver, briefly before resuming the regular season on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.

The Avalanche threesome concluded All Star Weekend as they represented the Central Division in the Finals of the All Star Game on Saturday night at FLA Live arena, but fell 7-5 to the Atlantic Division. Despite falling short, MacKinnon (1G, 2A), Makar (1G, 2A) and Rantanen (1G, 1A) shined for the Central Division as they combined for six points (3G, 3A) in the Final and 10 points (5G, 5A) when including the semifinal matchup against the Pacific Division where the Central was victorious with a 6-4 win.
For the entirety of the semifinal and Final - which were played with three-on-three hockey featuring two 10-minute periods - Central Division coach and current Head Coach of the Dallas Stars Pete DeBoer utilized MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen on a line.
"It was definitely an advantage for us," MacKinnon said of playing with his teammates. "We have good chemistry. It's a fun event, playing with the best players in the world."
The Avalanche advanced to the All Star Game Final with a 6-4 score over the Pacific Division in the Semifinal contest. MacKinnon paced the win with a two-goal performance, while Rantanen added two assists (on both of MacKinnon's goals) and Makar also handed out an assist.
MacKinnon potted the game's icebreaker at 3:15 in the first half as he grabbed a cross-slot feed from Rantanen and wired a low wrist shot past Pacific Division goaltender Stuart Skinner and immediately celebrated with two fist bumps before skating to the bench to high-five his Central Division teammates.

With the score tied up 2-2 - after an Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks) go-ahead goal was overturned for offsides - MacKinnon gave the Central Division a 3-2 lead late in the first half. As the Avalanche trio cycled the puck around the zone, MacKinnon and Rantanen exchanged a give-and-go and Rantanen threaded a pass to the backdoor for MacKinnon to tap it past Skinner.
The Central Division held on despite a late push from the Pacific Division to claim the 6-4 victory and advanced to the All Star Game Final as they faced the Atlantic Division who defeated the Metropolitan Division 10-6.

In the Final against the Atlantic Division, Rantanen scored early in the second half after the Central Division had fallen into a 4-0 hole. The Finnish winger collected a pass in the slot from MacKinnon to trim the Central Division's deficit down 4-1 at 4:09.
And after the Atlantic Division began to pull away with a 7-3 lead, MacKinnon and Makar added late strikes to bring the Central Division's deficit down 7-5 in what held on as the final score. MacKinnon beat Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with a low wrist shot on a breakaway at 9:39, while Makar scored at 9:52 with a low shot from the right faceoff circle.

NOVELTY OF ALL-STAR WEEKEND

For Makar, this marked his second-straight appearance at All-Star Weekend. The defenseman was one of a few players who also attended last year's event in Las Vegas and could appreciate the novelty and creativity implemented by the NHL to make the experience unique and reflective of the location and culture.
"Last year they did a really good job," Makar said. "It was convenient with the location of the rink. Those events were all pretty showbiz like Vegas is. This year was awesome too. The rink is a little further, but just getting to get guys down to some warmer weather and utilizing the beach, it was really cool and fun to be a part of."

GAME RECOGNIZE GAME

For Rantanen, this marked his second All Star appearance. And while the 26-year-old Finnish winger had familiar faces in his teammates MacKinnon and Makar and his fellow countrymen in Nashville's Juuse Saros and Florida's Aleksander Barkov, he noted it was nice to get to know some of the other All-Stars throughout the weekend like Dallas' Jason Robertson or Anaheim's - and Denver native - Troy Terry.
"It was fun just to get to know some of the guys that we play in our division so much," Rantanen said. "It was nice to get to know them since we play them so much."

BACK AT IT ON TUESDAY

While All-Star Weekend marks a nice pause in the grind of the 82-game regular season, the Avalanche know there's work to do on Tuesday as their season resumes in Pittsburgh against the Penguins in the first stop of a challenging three-game road trip which includes a rematch of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Prior to the All-Star break, the Avalanche had won seven of their last eight games and were committed to playing to their identity and executing a full 60-minute effort. The team is also looking forward to hopefully getting some additions back in the lineup as injured players continue to rehab, which could include defensemen Josh Manson and Bowen Byram.
"We need to definitely keep playing the way we were before the break," MacKinnon said. "No matter who is in the lineup we were well and playing hard. It'll help [getting some] healthy bodies back… We feel good about ourselves and control our own fate. We have some games in hand. We'll come out East for a tough road trip after the break."