MacKinnon’s Rude Wrister
Sometimes you watch MacKinnon score and you think, “Damn, Nate, that was rude to the goalie.” This was one of those goals:
The play starts in the Avalanche’s own end. Mikko Rantanen gets the puck and passes it ahead to MacKinnon, who’s waiting just past the red line. He whirls around and dekes the linesman — seriously, linesman, be careful.
Never mind — one of MacKinnon’s sometimes forgotten traits is his agility. He gets past the linesman and sets his sights on defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Vlasic does a good job of trying to take away the shot, but not good enough for Nathan’s sniping. MacKinnon just wrists the shot around Vlasic, threading it between goalie Martin Jones‘ legs.
He makes it look so easy.
No one claims Nathan MacKinnon’s speed is easy — not to defend and definitely not to contain. Let’s watch a goal that utilizes his speed.