The Colorado Avalanche took down the Los Angeles Kings in what ended up being a high-scoring affair to kick off the 2026-27 season on opening night Wednesday. While there were many different goal scorers and players who picked up assists, one of the players that stole the show in a different way was Nathan MacKinnon.
Late in the third period, defenseman Cale Makar took a hit in which MacKinnon did not like very much. MacKinnon then proceeded to drop his gloves and initiate a fight with Brandt Clarke of the Kings.
By my count, that fight, from the moment contact was intiated to both players ending up on the ice, lasted about seven total seconds. That’s about as long as you want your star players to be fighting for—maybe even preferrably less.
MacKinnon’s fighting resumè is not very long. Since entering the league in 2013, that was just MacKinnon’s ninth total fight according to HockeyFights.com. The most recent fight prior to Wednesday night’s was in 2022, with Dysin Mayo of, checks notes, the Arizona Coyotes. Yup, you read that correctly. Needless to say four years ago was a pretty long time in the world of hockey, but the fact that the Coyotes have since become the Utah Mammoth sort of puts that into a bit of perspective. Time flies!
When it comes to fights, I think that a lot of them happen because a player is sticking up for his teammate. That’s what we got to see from Gabriel Landeskog and his leadership since he returned from his knee injury. I wouldn’t have a problem with these sorts of things happening more often this season as long as it does not cost the team in a game-changing/deciding way. I absolutely love seeing these guys stick up for one another. Ultimately, I would not expect anything less.
Even though MacKinnon was done for the night after that fight, his absence from the ice did not help the Kings enough to make a full comeback. In a game that ended 8-4, the Avalanche did all that was necessary to come away with the victory.
It was full of excitement from puck drop to the clock hitting all zeroes and the Avalanche are 1-0 with two days in between Game 1 of the season and their second of the season—Saturday against the St. Louis Blues.
MacKinnon and Co. will be ready to go. Maybe we’ll see an even more hyped-up MacKinnon. Maybe we’ll get to see the first hat trick of the season for Colorado. I’ll put it out there in the universe: MacKinnon with a three-goal night.
I don’t anticipate MacKinnon getting into another fight, especially this soon, but one thing is clear: He’ll do it for his teammates.
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