MacKinnon Joins Exclusive Group After Reaching 500 Points

Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon joined a short list of individuals to reach 500 points in team history, but he also joined an exclusive group of players throughout the league to hit the mark before their 26th birthday.
The center achieved the milestone in the Avalanche's 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night as he assisted on two markers, including the game-winner. He now has 191 goals and 309 assists in 528 career games.

MacKinnon, 25, is just the seventh player in franchise history and the fourth since the team moved to Colorado to reach the 500-point threshold. Only Joe Sakic (1,015), Milan Hejduk (805) and Peter Forsberg (705) have recorded more in an Avs sweater, with Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet and Anton Stastny also joining the group in the franchise's annals as members of the Quebec Nordiques.
"Obviously it's a cool milestone, 500 points in the NHL is not an easy thing to achieve, and I've had some great players play with me along the way," MacKinnon said. "It's always fun getting points, but it's obviously more fun winning for sure."
Selected No. 1 overall by Colorado in the 2013 NHL Draft, MacKinnon is the first player from that year's selection to reach the half-millennial mark. The Calgary Flames' Sean Monahan (No. 6 overall in 2013) is the next closest with 415 career points.

Among active players, MacKinnon joins Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane and fellow Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native Sidney Crosby to join the 500-point club at the age of 25 or younger. All five of those players have Stanley Cup championships on their resumes as well.
"I've played with a lot of great players, and Nate is one of the best players in the league," said Brandon Saad, who was teammate with Kane in Chicago for six-plus seasons. "You can see [MacKinnon's] work ethic on and off the ice. I knew it just from playing against him, but just being around him every day, he's a special player and a special guy, so I'm happy to be part of his team."

MacKinnon assisted on Saad's tally at 3:07 of the first period to open the game's scoring and then fed an open Mikko Rantanen a quick pass during a power play that helped Colorado extend its lead to 3-0.
Using an 11-forwards and seven-defensemen lineup against the Kings, MacKinnon was often double-shifted in the contest as he saw a total of 22:19 of ice time and 15:30 during even-strength play, both most among the team's attackers. His first helper on the night came from him providing support in the offensive zone for Saad and Matt Calvert after a quick line change.

"I jumped on the ice and scored with Calvy and Saader, and that's fun too to play with different guys and mix things up a little bit, keep things fresh," MacKinnon said. "I'm not sure we'll go with 11 forwards very often, but when we do everyone gets a little more ice and feels a little bit better."
MacKinnon could have company in the Avs' 500-point club this season, as his usual linemate Gabriel Landeskog is approaching the milestone as well. Landeskog is 37 points away after recording 200 goals and 263 assists in his first 636 games.

GILBERT'S DEBUT

Acquired in an offseason trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, defenseman Dennis Gilbert made his Avalanche debut on Tuesday in L.A.
Gilbert played 9:54 while rotating in on a bottom defensive pairing with Erik Johnson and Conor Timmins.
"He's been practicing hard, working hard," Bednar said of Gilbert. "I don't know a lot about him as a player, but we've had some good meetings, he's been in on all of our skates and as the seventh defender in our lineup here he's been practicing on any given day. It was a good chance to get him playing in a game, and I thought he was pretty good. Moving pretty well, was physical, has a little bite to his game, was decent with the puck, didn't turn it over, was simple but effective. I like most of our D back there tonight."
It was the Buffalo, New York, native's 23rd career NHL game, as he skated in one contest in 2018-19 and 21 outings in 2019-20 with the Blackhawks. He joined Colorado along with forward Brandon Saad in a trade on Oct. 10 in exchange for Nikita Zadorov and Anton Lindholm.

ENTER EJ

Defenseman Erik Johnson appeared in his first game of the season after missing all of training camp and the first two regular season games per the league's coronavirus protocol.
Johnson skated 12:10 in a seventh D-man role, but he still saw 2:10 of penalty-kill time and played 4:40 in the third period. Including Tuesday's morning skate, he had only skated four times and had three practices before entering the lineup as he was unable to participate in team activities while in protocol.
The reason why the veteran rear guard played was more due to necessity, as Colorado didn't have any other players on its active roster that would fit under the salary cap following Andre Burakovsky's (upper body) minor injury.
"He played a couple big minutes for us in the third period," Bednar said of Johnson. "A little bit of a slow start. If you ask him, he would still feel like he needs some time to practice here and keep working on his conditioning, all the things that you have to do in order to be able to jump in and really make a big contribution in an NHL game. He's going to have some time here to get up to speed, and we'll be patient with him when it comes to that."

NEWCOMERS ON THE BOARD

After Devon Toews scored his first goal with the Avalanche on Friday, Brandon Saad joined his fellow newcomer in finding the scoresheet by potting his first marker in burgundy and blue against the Kings.
Saad knocked in a loose puck early in the first period after Matt Calvert's shot from the slot rebounded past the Kings goaltender and was lying in the crease.
"That one felt good," Saad said of his first tally. "Coming to a new team, it's always fun to score goals, but you want to show what you can do and help out and contribute and pitch in. That one was a little bit of a rebound, just sat there for me, but it still all feels good to get that off (his back)."

Toews added his second marker of the season in the second period as he buried a one-time shot off a pass from Samuel Girard--nearly the identical way he tallied his first four days earlier.
"Ray (Bennett, Avalanche assistant coach) preaches that we're kind of a solutions-based power play on both units," Toews said. "We're just finding something that works right now, making teams think we're going somewhere else. Our deception is good, and our puck movement is really good right now."
The goal marked the first time in the defenseman's career that he's scored in back-to-back games. He also played a season-high 25:40 in the contest while helping man the team's second power-play unit.
Colorado obtained Toews two days after it picked up Saad, acquiring him in a trade with the New York Islanders on Oct. 12.

TRADE WITH MINNY

The Avalanche and Wild swapped defensemen in a one-for-one trade prior to the game in L.A., as Colorado acquired Greg Pateryn in exchange for Ian Cole.
Pateryn has 41 points (four goals, 37 assists) in 270 career NHL games. Cole appeared in 138 games with the Avalanche after signing with the team as a free agent on July 1, 2018.
"Ian Cole is an awesome teammate, and he did a heck of a job for us here over the last couple seasons… You get a guy in Pateryn that has real good grit and sort of nastiness to his game, good penalty killer and shot blocker." Bednar said. "It also frees up some cap space to give us a little flexibility to be able to do some things. Make sure that we can still insert guys from the taxi squad if guys get dinged up and use healthy bodies here with the 26 (total players) we're carrying."
Pateryn is currently in Southern California as the Wild played at the Anaheim Ducks on Monday to begin a two-game set. The Sterling Heights, Michigan, native wasn't able to play in L.A. for Tuesday's game but could possibly make his Avs debut as early as Thursday when they face the Kings again at Staples Center.