Colorado Avalanche: Best Goals vs. Minnesota 2017-2018

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 06: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates with his bench after scoring a goal against the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center on January 6, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. The Avalanche defeated the Wild 7-2. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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Nathan MacKinnon /

MacKinnon’s Power Play Snipe

Nathan MacKinnon is a talented scorer. On the way to smashing all his personal best numbers in the NHL, MacKinnon wasn’t about to let Soderberg have all the fun against the Minnesota Wild.

He decided to get in on the scoring, too. And he showed off some of the beautiful skill that makes him such a threat on the ice. (Spoiler alert: It’s not just his speed.)

A couple minutes after Soderberg’s tally, the Colorado Avalanche are on the power play again. This time, it’s the first unit on the ice. Man, they show some jump in this sequence, with Tyson Jost working the puck in the zone and then Mikko Rantanen and MacKinnon playing keepaway.

Sam Girard is quarterbacking this power play. Rantanen gets him the puck, and he wisely funnels it to MacKinnon. Nate settles the puck, spies the spot he wants, and unleashes a sniper’s shot:

That goal nearly sends Minny coach Bruce Boudreau into conniptions. It’s also the goal that finally gets Devan Dubnyk pulled. (Tyson Jost later sneaks one past replacement Alex Stalock, so that wasn’t exactly successful.)

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