MacKinnon Dominates Against Wild

When Nathan MacKinnon is on his game, it is incredibly hard to slow him down.
He was flying on the ice on Friday night in the Colorado Avalanche's 7-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at Pepsi Center.
MacKinnon finished the night with two goals and three assists, the second time in his career he has recorded five points and both have occurred this season (Nov. 16 versus the Washington Capitals).

He scored the game-winning goal for the 10th time this campaign, the most by an Avalanche player since Joe Sakic had 12 in 2000-01.
The game-winner was also MacKinnon's 30th goal of the 2017-18 season, the first time in his career he has reached the milestone.

"I figured they saw me shoot low blocker a couple times, so I wanted to mix it up," said MacKinnon of his first tally at 12:08 of the first period. "I just tried to fake him short side and then ended up going back across my body, and it managed to catch it far post."
The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native ranks first in the league in points at home with 56 (23 goals, 33 assists) and has helped the Avalanche to a 23-8-1 record on home ice this season.
"The start we had in the game, we were buzzing right away," said Mikko Rantanen. "We were putting pucks behind their D and working them down low, that's what we were talking about before the game. In the second period, we came out strong and had four goals in that period, so it was kind of game over. Then we played smart hockey in the third and didn't give them a lot."
Colorado is 2-0-1 against the Wild this season and has outscored Minnesota 16-6 in three contests, including a 14-3 margin of victory in the last two combined games.
The Avalanche sent four to the back of Minnesota's net in the second period, the second straight game the Avs have scored four times in a frame. The Wild made a goaltender change after Carl Soderberg recorded his 12th of the year and Colorado's third of the stanza.
"The Wild, they are a really good hockey team, we couldn't take them lightly," said MacKinnon. "Obviously, it wasn't their best night but I thought we earned every goal we got, we played well. Dubnyk got pulled and maybe Carl's was a little soft, but other than that I thought we were all over him early."

MacKinnon center's Colorado's top line with wingers Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, and the trio combined for 10 points (four goals, six assists) in the outing.
"Your first line has got to be driving the boat, and we are making sure that we are leading," said Landeskog. "That's what we kind of wanted to do tonight, just come out and lead the charge right off the get go and we did that."
The three forwards have been together almost exclusively since Oct. 28 and have combined for 130 points (52 goals, 78 assists) in 32 home outings this season.
"When you play that long time together, since end of October or something, the chemistry comes kind of automatically," said Rantanen. "Of course, we like to talk before the games too and in the middle of the game [about] what we want to do on the ice. Just two great players helping me, so it's a lot of fun to play with them."
MacKinnon finished the game with a plus-5 rating, the first Avalanche player to do so since Rob Blake was also a plus-5 on March 19, 2006 at the San Jose Sharks.
The 22-year-old has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his last four outings.
"We have been doing our thing at home for a while now," MacKinnon said of his line. "A little break from each other when I got hurt I guess, and coming back with one another we kind of picked up where we left off and tonight was a fun one."
MacKinnon had an upper-body injury for eight games at the beginning of February and did not miss a beat upon his return.
"You never know, injuries are always tough. But I think a guy that had his confidence so high right before he went out and obviously coming back and he just sort of picks up right where he left off," said Landeskog. "That's impressive. It's not easy to do to, sit out and just come back like that but he's done a good job."
Since he has returned from injury, MacKinnon has registered 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in seven games, including a four-game goal streak.

RANTANEN ALSO SHINES

Rantanen recorded four points (one goal, three assists) for the second time in his career, both of which have occurred this season. His four points pushed him past the 100-point milestone in his career.
The right wing has recorded 101 points (41 goals, 60 assists) in 147 career NHL games, with 67 (22 goals, 45 assists) coming this campaign. He has had 25 of his points come on the power play, tied for 10th in the league on the man advantage.
Rantanen has 44 points (16 goals, 28 assists) on familiar ice, and is tied with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby for third in the NHL in home scoring.

WILSON LEAVES WITH INJURY

Forward Colin Wilson left the game midway through the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return.
He was on a line with rookies Tyson Jost and Alex Kerfoot and has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 51 games this season.
Wilson tallied his 100th career NHL goal at the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 11 and has 253 points (101 goals, 152 assists) in 553 career games.

MORE GAME NOTES

The Avalanche matched a season high with seven goals, tallying seven markers for the third time this campaign. It is the first time since the 2006-07 season that the club has scored seven markers on three separate occasions (also three seven-goal games).
Colorado is averaging 3.66 goals-per-game at home, which ranks second in the league.
With MacKinnon's second five-point night of the season, the Avalanche has had four occasions of a player registering a five-point performances. It is the most since 1995-96 when the Avs had six.
Patrik Nemeth registered the fourth multi-point game of his career, two of which have come this season.
Samuel Girard registered his second multi-point game. He also had two assists against the New York Islanders on Dec. 31.
The Avs are now 29-6-2 when scoring the first goal of the game, the fourth-most wins in the NHL when lighting the lamp first.
Carl Soderberg has recorded three points (one goal, two assists) in his last two outings.
Colorado finished 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and is 94-for-101 on the kill at home this season, the league's top-ranked home penalty-kill unit. The Avs have allowed a league-low seven power-play goals on home ice in 2017-18 and just three in their last 20 contests at Pepsi Center.