When Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon skated in the game against the Dallas Stars, it was his 200th NHL game. MacKinnon reached that milestone in just over 2 1/2 seasons.
MacKinnon could have reached the 200-game mark a little sooner, of course. Unfortunately he was forced to miss 18 games last season due to a broken foot.
Nonetheless, MacKinnon has spent his entire time since being drafted with the NHL. That’s a lot more than a lot of his draft class can say — including the third overall and former teammate of MacKinnon’s, Jonathan Droui.
Not only that, MacKinnon isn’t exactly schlepping his way in a lower line. He is, in fact, centering the Colorado Avalanche’s top line.
Stats from the Game
Center Nathan MacKinnon was psyched up going into the game. During a pregame presser, he talked about how quickly the 199 games had gone. He added:
"“It seems weird. I’m only in my third season. Obviously, Game 1 was exciting, and it is still exciting, but it’s different.”"
Of course, those 199 games had been eventful in themselves. In that time, he’d already scored two hat tricks, gotten in his first NHL fight and gone through his first NHL playoff series — capped by a heartbreaking Game 7 loss. And, of course, he won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year.
Game 200 wasn’t quite that eventful, but it was still one in which Nathan MacKinnon showed up. MacKinnon saw 15:02 of ice time, including 1:46 on the power play. He earned a two-minute minor for roughing Dallas Stars skater Patrick Eaves during a third period scrum. MacKinnon won 71% of his faceoffs and earned an assist on Nick Holden‘s first period goal.
All in all, a pretty decent performance by MacKinnon.
Oh, and there was the penalty shot…
Nathan MacKinnon Penalty Shot
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Nathan MacKinnon is known for his speed. He doesn’t seem to take off quite as often as fellow speedster Matt Duchene, but MacKinnon can still turn on the rockets.
Early in the third period, MacKinnon corralled the puck and turned on those rockets. Desperate, John Klingberg tried to catch up. Of course, that was impossible, so Klingberg wrapped his stick around MacKinnon and managed to hook him off balance.
Nathan MacKinnon was far enough in front of Klingberg that he got awarded a penalty shot — his first ever NHL penalty shot, actually.
Unfortunately, Nathan MacKinnon was unsuccessful in his attempt.
Normally I would embed a video to show you Nathan MacKinnon’s first-ever NHL penalty shot attempt. However, the NHL.com site is as ineffectual at running its new site as Mike Yeo is at growing hair. In other words, the video is lost.
So, instead, I’m going to share a video of Patrick Roy riveting a reporter with his stare:
The moment in question comes at 3:31. The reporter asks coach Roy about the fact that goalie Calvin Pickard was upset with himself after allowing the Dallas Stars’ game-winning goal in overtime. Roy stares at the reporter and quietly asks, “Why would be be upset?” When the reporter stutters an insufficient answer, Roy even more quietly presses, “Why?”
At that point he lets the reporter off the hook and smiles. Roy’s got his players’ backs.
Next: Avs Should Give Noreau a Shot
Anyway, I shared that with you because the Nathan MacKinnon video has been disappeared by NHL.com. Luckily, we should get to see MacK with a lot more eventful games — hopefully including tonight’s against the Winnipeg Jets.