Nathan MacKinnon: 2017-18 Season in Review

It was a season to remember for Nathan MacKinnon.
The Colorado Avalanche center finished fifth in league scoring in 2017-18 after tallying 97 points (39 goals, 58 assists) in 74 games and became the first Avs player to finish a season among the NHL's top five scorers since Joe Sakic tied for second in 2003-04.

While he had success from nearly the beginning of the year, MacKinnon caught wind late in October when he recorded four consecutive multi-point games from Oct. 28-Nov. 5, becoming the first Colorado player to do so since Matt Duchene from Dec. 16-21, 2013. He then went on to tally his first career five-point game (one goal, four assists) on Nov. 16 versus the Washington Capitals, the first five-point effort by an Avalanche player since Dec. 9, 2007 (Milan Hejduk 6, Paul Stastny 5, versus St. Louis). His four assists were also a personal best and the most since Colorado forward T.J. Galiardi on Feb. 2, 2010.
MacKinnon's efforts didn't stop there, as he tallied 20 points in November and was named the NHL's first star of the month. The forward's point total for the month was tied for the third most in team history (since 1995-96) with Duchene (2015) and Sakic (1995). Only Forsberg's 23 points in 1995 and Sakic's 22 in 2000 were more. MacKinnon also led the league in points per game (1.67), assists (15) and plus/minus rating (plus-11) in 12 outings.
"It's obviously definitely something I'm proud of," MacKinnon said to ColoradoAvalanche.com about receiving the monthly honor. "Our line got hot, we created a lot of chances, and I thought we played really well this month. I was on the receiving end of some extra points from Gabe (Landeskog) and Mikko (Rantanen). We didn't produce a ton in October, but we're feeling better now and it's an honor for sure."

MacKinnon's month of November was truly something special and might have seemed hard to keep up, but he was just getting started.
The 6-foot, 205-pound center tied his career high with a five-game assist streak (Dec. 29- Jan. 6) and scored a goal in five straight contests (Jan. 6-20), the longest stretch by an Avalanche player since Gabriel Landeskog also tallied in five consecutive contests from Feb. 12-20, 2015. He maintained a nine-game point streak from Dec. 29 to Jan. 20.
For the second straight season, MacKinnon was selected to the NHL All-Star Game, and he showcased his abilities once again in the Skills Competition and the Fastest Skater race. After participating in the event in 2017, he once again attempted to make a run at the crown but fell short and finished fourth with Connor McDavid winning for the second consecutive year.
Also at the skills event, MacKinnon participated in the NHL Save Streak, which was a shootout grouped by division where goalies competed to make the most consecutive saves. The Colorado forward faced the New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist and Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy and scored on both. MacKinnon finished the weekend with the 3-on-3 tournament and scored and assisted for the Central Division, but the team lost 5-2 to the Pacific Division.
"It's awesome. The guys in the locker room, it's unbelievable," MacKinnon said to NBCSN after the competition. "We were joking, it would be a nice squad if we could all play together. It's great. I have a lot of buddies who are here, so it's awesome to see them."

After the break, MacKinnon and the Avalanche returned to action but things took a turn for the worse in the first game back on Jan. 30 at the Vancouver Canucks. The NHL All-Star left the contest early and soon returned to Denver with an upper-body injury after colliding with the Canucks' Alexander Edler near the end boards.
MacKinnon missed eight games with the ailment but returned to the Avalanche lineup on Feb. 18 and continued where he left off with his high level of play.
He became the third-youngest Avalanche/Nordiques player (22 years, 172 days) to reach 100 career goals with the overtime-winner on Feb. 20 at Vancouver. The OT marker capped off a three-goal comeback by the Avs, one of the highlights in MacKinnon's and the team's storybook season.

As the regular season neared its conclusion, MacKinnon recorded a career-high 14-game point streak from Feb. 24-March 22, the third-longest streak in the NHL this past season and the longest by an Avalanche player since Paul Stastny had points in 20 straight contests in 2006-07.
During this time, he also tallied 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in a 15-game stretch from Feb. 20 to March 20 and picked up his second five-point outing on March 2 versus Minnesota. MacKinnon scored the 10th of his 12 game-winning goals on the season in the contest, and the marker was also his 30th of the 2017-18 campaign. It was the first time in his career that he reached the 30-goal milestone.
MacKinnon went on to register his 300th NHL point on April 1 at Anaheim. He finished the season second in the NHL in points per game (1.31), trailing Connor McDavid by only one hundredth of a point (1.32), and he had the most goals by a Colorado player since 2002-03 when Hejduk scored a league-leading 50. His 12 game-winners matched an Avalanche record set by Sakic in 2000-01 and eight of them came at Pepsi Center, setting a new Colorado record for winning tallies at home.

Following the regular season, MacKinnon tallied three goals and three assists in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs versus the Nashville Predators. He took 28 shots on goal and added a game-winning marker in the team's playoff run.
"I think we can compete with one versus eight, we made it a good series," MacKinnon said after the team was eliminated following Game 6. "I guess I'll have to reflect a little bit to really think about what I learned. I thought we had some good moments, and a lot of stuff we could work on, but overall, definitely a positive that we made the playoffs and we made it a series against the Predators. "
Following the season, MacKinnon was nominated for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's most valuable player, as well as the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the most outstanding player as voted by the NHL Players' Association.
He came up short for both awards but after a record-setting year, MacKinnon will aim for another strong campaign and help the Avalanche in restoring the team's former glory.