The 22-year-old center took a maintenance day Monday, two days after the Avalanche clinched the second wild card into the playoffs from the West with a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues.
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"Feel pretty good," MacKinnon said. "Rest day, long season. We played a tough game Saturday, so I took an extra day off. We don't play until Thursday, so I took advantage of it.
"It's what we play for. We want to give ourselves a chance to win. It took the last game to get in, we got in and anything can happen now. We're excited for the challenge. Obviously, it's not going to be easy against the Presidents' (Trophy) winning team. We just have to play our game and let them respond to us."
MacKinnon last competed in the playoffs as an 18-year-old rookie in 2013-14. He had 10 points (two goals, eight assists) for the Avalanche, who lost the first round to the Minnesota Wild in seven games.
MacKinnon was fifth in the NHL this season with 97 points (39 goals, 58 assists).
"Mentally, I'm a better player than I was four years ago as a rookie," said MacKinnon, who won the Calder Trophy with 63 points (24 goals, 39 assists) in 82 games. "I feel like my game's grown a lot and I'm ready for whatever happens. It's nice to have a second time in the playoffs, so it's not totally new."
