We already know how much of a superstar Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon is. He’s one of two of the best players currently on the team, and one of the best in team history. MacKinnon has proven that he’s also the best player in the entire league, at least as far as skaters go.
Despite MacKinnon’s amazing 2025 season, it wasn’t quite enough for him to bring home the Art Ross trophy, given to the player who leads the league in points at the end of the regular season. That went to Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning this past year, as well as the year prior. Still, we can admire MacKinnon’s tremendous season without awards and be thankful that we get to witness such a competitive league.
MacKinnon is the all-time Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques leader in overtime goals, which, on one hand isn’t a surprise. On the other hand, given that he hasn’t played an entire career thus far, it is remarkable.
Through 870 career games, MacKinnon has 14 overtime buzzer-beaters. In the 2017-18 season, he had his career-high of three, which is also tied for best in franchise history with Tyson Barrie, David Jones, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen. More recently, in the 2021-22 season, Makar had three and Mikko Rantanen also had three in the 2022-23 season.
The fact that MacKinnon has so many more overtime goals than any other player in Avalanche history is yet another reminder of how great he is.
How many overtime goals does the next group of Colorado Avalanche players have?
2. Milan Hejduk (9)
The next closest overtime goals in an Avalanche career is nine, which belongs to all-time great Milan Hejduk. Hejduk spent his entire 14-year career with the Avalanche, from 1998-99 through 20212-13. Hejduk’s final overtime goal happened in the 2006-07 season against the San Jose Sharks.
Among his career accolades, Hejduk did lead the league in goals during the 2002-03 season, earning the Rocket Richard trophy.
While Hejduk had done enough to warrant a spot in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, he hasn’t found his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame, which is unfortunate.
3. Gabriel Landeskog and Joe Sakic (7)
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and former Avalanche captain Joe Sakic are tied for third place with seven overtime goals apiece. Landeskog had two in 2020-21 and one in 2021-22, which was the most recent time in which he was able to play a regular season game. Hopefully, we will get to see many more overtime game winners for the next couple of years from Landeskog.
Though Sakic didn’t have an overtime goal in either of his final two seasons in the NHL, he had one apiece in 2005-06 and 2006-07, as well as 1999-00 and 2001-02. He had a career-high of two overtime game winners in between those years, 2000-01.
To think that there was actually a chance Sakic wouldn’t be a member of the Avalanche/Nordiques organization for the entirety of his career…
4. David Jones and Cale Makar (6)
Former right wing David Jones had six overtime game-winners in his NHL career, all of which happened as a member of the Avalanche. The 2003 ninth-round pick of the Avalanche had a strong career, spanning from 2007-08 through the 2015-16 season, the last three of which he played in Calgary for two years, and Minnesota for his final year in the league.
Cale Makar is the other player in team history to have six overtime buzzer beaters. If there is anyone who can somehow catch up to MacKinnon’s team record of 14 overtime goals, it’s probably Makar. That is, if MacKinnon slows down. Of course, there are a ton of factors that can go into whether or not Makar would even sniff that record. The team would have to be somewhat mediocre for much longer of a time that any fan would feel comfortable with.
In three-on-three overtime, the Avalanche like to put MacKinnon and Makar right away to get a handle on the first minutes of the extra period. They want to enforce their dominance, and what better way than to get your best players out on the ice? Every single person in the NHL—players, coaches, or fans—know that MacKinnon and Makar pose the biggest threat to opposing teams. Even with that knowledge, it’s still hard to stop them.
5. Ryan O’Reilly, Matt Duchene, Mikko Rantanen (5)
The last group of overtime game-winners are all currently active players, though none play for the Avalanche anymore. The more recent Avalanche player, Mikko Rantanen, has a season-high of three goals, accomplished in the 2022-23 season.
Though Ryan O’Reilly has 13 career overtime game-winners, only five of those came as a member of the Avalanche. It’s important to note that he last suited up for Colorado during the 2014-15 season, so it’s been a hot minute.
Matt Duchene also hasn’t played for the Avalanche in a while. His last season in Colorado was the 2017-18 season. Though he only played in 14 games that year for the team before being shipped off to Ottawa. From his second years through his fifth year, Duchene had four overtime goals—one per year. Five of his 13 overtime goals came as a member of the Avalanche.