DENVER, CO - APRIL 15: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) scores a goal during the first period of a Western Conference match-up in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 15, 2019 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB – APRIL 13: Colorado Avalanche Center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates with Left Wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) after scoring the winning goal during the first overtime period of Game Two of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs where the Calgary Flames hosted the Colorado Avalanche on April 13, 2019, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
The Colorado Avalanche’s superstar, Nathan MacKinnon, scored a lot of highlight-reel goals last season. Here are five of the best.
Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon scored a lot last season. In fact, he scored a career-high 41 goals in the regular season and a career-high six goals in the playoffs. That’s 47 goals a girl has to scroll through trying to find five sensational examples — especially since they’re all sensational since they’re scored by Nathan MacKinnon for the Avalanche.
That’s so many beautiful goals, that I found myself getting picky. I’d look at plays that would be highlight-reel for 98% of the NHLers out there, and I’d turn up my nose because it wasn’t quite spectacular enough for a MacK Daddy highlight reel.
Let me tall you, it’s fun to watch MacKinnon speed in, put on the brakes, and snap a wicked wrister. That’s not the only kind of goals represented here, but they’re definitely a Nate Dawg special.
So, without further adieu, let’s look at five of the 47 spectacular goals Nate scored last season.
Classic Nathan MacKinnon
So, while not all of these goals will be a version of the Nate Dawg Special, let’s take a look at the classic MacKinnon goal.
The play starts in the Avalanche’s zone. MacKinnon receives the puck and powers up the ice. The Carolina player is left well behind with the second stride, so Colorado goes on a two-on one rush.
MacKinnon puts on the jets. As he glides into the offensive zone, he decreases his speed and starts the chop suey stick movement that’s a hallmark of his game.
At that point, you can almost see the game from MacKinnon’s speed. Even though the play is moving so fast, he’s put himself in such a position that when he stops dicing the puck, he almost seems to have all the time in the world to score:
MacKinnon’s wrist shot is such a thing of beauty. He shot that puck right up there where Mamma keeps the Landeskotch.
Joe Sakic Special
The Colorado Avalanche’s GM did all right in his playing days. Had a Hall of Fame career with Colorado. Scored himself (and the Avs) 625 goals. Those were some great days.
Six years in, MacKinnon has 155 goals. Maybe he’s not going to crack Sakic’s record. But he can summon old Burnaby Joe to his hands when he needs to.
I don’t know what it is about this goal that so reminds me of Joe Sakic scoring. I think it’s the way he cuts into the middle as he enters the offensive zone, then scores a goal while in the classic one-foot hockey pose:
Now, I’m not going to sift through 625 Sakic goals to find the exact inspiration for that one. As much fun as that would be, a girl has to get to bed some time. So, enjoy 10 Joe Sakic goals in the worst definition possible (sorry):
There’s a lot of what MacK does in what Joe was doing back then.
No Stopping Nate Dawg
Nathan MacKinnon is a pretty good-sized man. More importantly he’s got those abs of steel we were all trying to get back in the day. There’s core strength, and then there’s the steel rebar MacK has just under his skin.
His legs aren’t exactly weak either. No one would accuse MacKinnon of skipping leg day.
Put all of that together, and you’ve got a hockey-playing demon that just won’t quit. Do what you want to Nate (except poke his eye out — none of us likes that), you’re not knocking him off the puck.
Case in point, in the game against Buffalo, a defender literally knocks MacKinnon to his knees. Nate just sort of… levitates back up without losing the puck on his stick. Another defender tries to hook MacK, but Nate Dawg just does a little jig around him and does this:
That’s right, another one of those wristers. They’re just so dang fun.
Classic MacKinnon 2.0
Are you tired of Nathan MacKinnon scoring for the Colorado Avalanche yet? I hope not, because I’ve got a couple more good ones for you — and, hey, a bonus round because why not.
So, we already looked at the MacKinnon Special. Well, a player as special as MacK is going to have more than one, ah, special under his sleeve.
MacKinnon can’t drive the puck into the offensive zone every time. Defenders would catch on to that pretty quickly and just all rush him. So, quite often you see his wingman moving the puck while MacKinnon rushes up the side.
I love this following goal because not only does MacK sneak into the o-zone, he switches smoothly to a defenseman stance to get himself into perfect position for a one-timer:
I guess that’s not so much Classic MacKinnon 2.0 as just super-cool. Oh, well, I love when players score from one knee. (The positioning, though! He just drops to the knee, swings his leg around full-speed and… is somehow upright again.)
So far, we’ve just been watching MacKinnon scoring in the regular season. Like I said, he did so 41 times, so it’s fair the lion’s share of goals on this list would be from there. But we’ve got to look at a little playoff love, too.
This goal is another example of MacK Daddy being special. This one, in fact, shows how he can be extra-special with Mikko Rantanen.
The game is in overtime in Calgary. Colorado is already down 1-0 in the series. And, you know, overtime in an away arena.
The play starts in Colorado’s zone. Calgary almost scores, but Philipp Grubauer shuts them down. Ian Cole corrals the puck and gets it to Rantanen. MacKinnon is on the far side already starting his rush
Rantanen and his passes — he’s got such vision. He somehow threads a pass through traffic just in front of MacKinnon, just so Nate can pick it up as he crosses into the offensive zone.
Calgary is lost. You’d think they hadn’t scouted Nathan’s speed because he’s all alone after blazing past the defenseman. He’s one-on-one with the goalie, and it’s never a good thing for a goalie to be staring down a barreling Nathan MacKinnon:
Sure enough, he flicks the puck over Mike Smith’s glove for the game-winning goal. In overtime! In an away arena. IN THE PLAYOFFS!
Yeah, shoot that straight into my veins.
Bonus Round MacK
And now, as promised, a little bonus round of Colorado Avalanche’s superstar, Nathan MacKinnon.
Unpopular opinion: I like the shootout. Yes, I know it’s just a skills competition. Guess what — I like skills competitions, too. You might not have the rush of in-game action, but you don’t have the confusion either. Shootouts are just a pure representation of a player’s skill.
The Colorado Avalanche took a game to the shootout against the Arizona Coyotes in March. By that time, both teams were vying for the same playoff spot. Both teams had already gotten a point from the game, which wasn’t ideal, but that second point was all-important because of the standings.
Well, Nathan MacKinnon did his part. And, as promised, he put a lot of extra secret sauce into his goal:
You’ve got the wide start, you’ve got dekes and head fakes, you’ve got a dangle, and you end up with a sweet backhand that beats Darcy Kuemper.
Anytime you can beat a Minnesota Wild goalie, even when he’s now with another team, life is good.
Next. 5 Activities for Hockey Fans in the Offseason. dark
It’s not even mid-July yet, so we’ve got several weeks before we can see any more MacK Daddy Specials. But we will. It’s a good time to be a Colorado Avalanche fan.
