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Colorado Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon Must Score Soon

By Nadia Archuleta |
DENVER, CO MARCH 22: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) skates the puck behind the Los Angeles Kings goal during the first period on March 22, 2018 at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO MARCH 22: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) skates the puck behind the Los Angeles Kings goal during the first period on March 22, 2018 at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

The Colorado Avalanche need their star center, Nathan MacKinnon, to get hot again if they want to make the playoffs.

The Colorado Avalanche earned a point and are now in the second wild card spot. Now, they blew a two-goal lead that they had in the third and then lost in overtime. But let’s not focus on that generally.

Let’s focus on something specifically — Nathan MacKinnon did not score. He has not scored since the March 18 game against the Detroit Red Wings, when he scored two. As fun as that was to see, I don’t want those to be his last two goals of the season.

In those seven games, he’s earned five assists. However, he brought the Avalanche to the brink of playoff action — he needs to contribute very significantly in the last push.

Potential Reasons for Nathan MacKinnon Not Scoring

Colorado Avalanche
Colorado Avalanche /

Colorado Avalanche

It’s not just that Nathan MacKinnon isn’t scoring. When you watch him, he doesn’t have that same danger level as he did a while back. He’s not salad chopping the puck as much as he was, and he’s not speeding across the ice as much as he was.

One potential problem is that he’s playing through an injury. Maybe his shoulder got tweaked again against Detroit. It might not be enough to keep him out of games, but it might be sore enough to affect his play.

The flu bug has been running rampant throughout the country. While pro athletes are in prime fitness, they do fall prey to illness as well. Carl Soderberg played in the Wings game but missed the next two with illness. Semyon Varlamov also missed a game with illness. MacKinnon could be fighting through the same.

Finally, you might say that teams have watched enough film on Nate and know how to stop him. I think that’s the least likely scenario, though. If all it took was watching enough film to stop a star player, every team would be doing it against Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin…

Nathan MacKinnon Must Get His Scoring Touch Back

Peter Forsberg played through excruciating pain in his heels — and dominated the game. You hear about goalies throwing up between periods in the playoffs because they have the flu and need to stay in the game. Players stuff cotton up their noses to staunch blood and jump back out onto the ice.

And Nathan MacKinnon is no softy. If “all” he’s playing through is injury or illness, he’ll find that same reserve of strength as those guys above.

I don’t know if he’s like Matt Duchene, who would go through scoring slumps every year. They would get into his head until he scored again. Landeskog has said he, himself, is something of a streaky scorer.

MacKinnon is just 22 years old. Yes, he’s still figuring a lot out, including how to be the true scoring leader on an NHL team. But this is what he has been groomed for his entire life.

Next: Plan for Winning in the Face of Injury

We all know the Colorado Avalanche are only in playoff positioning because Nathan MacKinnon found his superstar groove. And no matter how this season ends, we’re all going to appreciate the hell out of him.

But, come on, Nate Dawg, do not go gentle into that good night of this season.

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