Nathan MacKinnon had his most productive night of the season to pull the Colorado Avalanche out of a funk, but the club’s extraordinary injury crisis may have somehow reached a new level.
MacKinnon had a career-high five assists Tuesday night and the Avs dominated the Seattle Kraken at Ball Arena in a 6-3 victory. While the win snapped a three-game losing skid, Cale Makar was injured during the second period and played only one brief shift in the third.
“It hasn’t felt that great,” MacKinnon said. “Just chipping in every night right now. It hasn’t felt like I’ve done anything crazy. I’m just trying to get my game better every week and just keep building for the long run. I trust the results will come.”
Makar was injured during a power play midway through the second period. He did not play in the final 10:08 of the second period, then took one 29-second shift in the opening two minutes of the third period. He stayed on the bench through the first media timeout, then tested the injury again during the break before heading to the locker room.
Avs coach Jared Bednar did not have an update on Makar after the game, just that he “tweaked something” during the second period.
MacKinnon had a hand in both of Colorado’s first-period goals, but both came away from his linemates. After Chris Wagner created some chaos in his first shift of the game, MacKinnon put the puck around Eeli Tolvanen near the offensive blue line to create some open space and then found Wagner with a cross-ice pass for a shot from the right circle and his first goal of the season at 2:28.
After the Kraken leveled the score at 12:58, rookie Ivan Ivan scored his third goal of the season to put Colorado back in front 74 seconds later. Ivan sent a pass to fellow first-year forward Nikolai Kovalenko, who took the puck to the net for a backhanded chance. Ivan was there to clean up the rebound, and he’s now second among all rookies in goals behind Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov.
One year after MacKinnon’s consistency and multiple long-point streaks were part of his MVP-winning resume, MacKinnon also has a point in all 13 games this season.
Seattle scored 23 seconds into the second period after a turnover by Logan O’Connor on his own end. At that point, the Kraken had two goals on six shots — and only three scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Avalanche power play has been great all season, and it struck twice to help Colorado regain control.
MacKinnon set up Artturi Lehkonen in the bumper spot for a one-timer to make it 3-2 at 6:44 of the second. Lehkonen is the third player this season to score a power-play goal in that spot, on a pass from MacKinnon. All three — including Ross Colton and Ivan — have been in that spot as a replacement for Jonathan Drouin, who hasn’t played since the season opener.
Lehkonen made his season debut against the Kraken after offseason shoulder surgery.
“I felt good,” Lehkonen said. “Some parts were rusty. I’m going to work on some things and finding the timing. But overall I felt pretty good.”
Mikko Rantanen scored the second one at 9:11 on a one-timer from Makar, with MacKinnon providing the secondary assist. The play was reviewed for offsides and the goal was waved off because Lehkonen had crossed the blue line before the puck.
Then, after a second review, the officials waved off the offsides because the puck entered the zone after Seattle’s Yanni Gourde shot it wide at the other end — therefore playing Lehkonen onsides. It was Rantanen’s fifth goal of the season, but first in nine games and only his second since a hat trick on opening night in Las Vegas.
Rantanen added his sixth goal, an empty-netter, with 2:05 left, just 24 seconds after the Kraken had cut Colorado’s lead to 4-3 with a 6-on-5 goal. Parker Kelly blocked five shots during the long shift before Matty Beniers deflected a Brandon Montour’s attempt into the net.
Justus Annunen started in goal for the Avs for the sixth time in eight games. He didn’t have a lot of tough saves to make, but now has five of the club’s six wins this season. Alexandar Georgiev and Kaapo Kahkonen have made one start each in that span.
“(Annunen) has been awesome,” MacKinnon said. “He’s really settled things down. It’s given (Georgiev) a little break and a chance to reset, work with (Jussi Parkkila) and come back strong.”
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