DENVER — Another five goals, another two points and another big game from superstar center Nathan MacKinnon.
The Avalanche are entering the NHL bye week and All-Star weekend on a high note.
MacKinnon continued his home point streak, reaching 25 games, and forward Logan O’Connor pitched in with another two goals for the Avs, who enter the break with a 32-14-3 record and a sterling 20-5-0 at Ball Arena. Colorado smashed the struggling L.A. Kings 5-1 on Friday.
The team enters the break on a 13-3-1 stretch since falling to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks in mid-December. They’ll have 33 games remaining following a much-needed nine days off.
“It’s about refining our game and making sure that the standard gets pushed,” head coach Jared Bednar said of the stretch run. “We’ve had a lot of growing, every team does the first half of the year. And so we’ll challenge our guys to get better in all areas with the puck, without it, offensively, defensively, and start nitpicking a little bit.”
Defensemen Cale Makar and Josh Manson also had goals for Colorado.
O’Connor recorded his first career hat trick last Saturday against the Flyers to cap off an impressive stretch of hockey. After failing to record a point on Wednesday, he extended his career-high in goals two nights later with both his 12th and 13th of the season in the first period — the first two goals of the game.
The 27-year-old undrafted free agent is two points back of his career high (26) with 33 games remaining. His 13 goals are already four more than his previous high. He has six goals in his last five games.
“I think he’s creating a lot of maybe what he was in the past it just seems like he’s more confident in his shot, he’s more confident taking it,” veteran forward Andrew Cogliano said of O’Connor. “He’s one of those guys you win with. He does a lot of the right things out there every night and gets rewarded for it. These are the guys you want on your team.”
Following the tallies from O’Connor, MacKinnon rushed into the zone, received a pass from Jonathan Drouin and wired it past goalie Cam Talbot to make it 3-0. His home point streak is now tied with Bobby Orr for the second-longest to start a season in NHL history. He’s 15 back of Wayne Gretzky (1992-93) for the record.
MacKinnon is also riding a 13-game point streak. He has 75 points in his last 39 games and leads the NHL with 84, passing Nikita Kucherov (83).
“What can you say? Right? I think people are running out of things to say because it’s so impressive,” Manson said of MacKinnon’s play. “But I think what’s most impressive, I’ve said this before, but, it’s what he’s doing off the ice. Like the way he’s looking after himself off the ice to dedicate himself to his performances on the ice. That’s another level, too.”
After the Avs gave up a power-play goal in the second period, Manson played give-and-go with Cogliano to extend the lead back to three. And in the third period, Makar’s tally on the power play made it 5-1.
Goalie Alexandar Georgiev heads into his first NHL All-Star appearance with a league-leading 27 wins. On Friday, Georgiev made 25 saves, recording his third consecutive game with at least a .900 save percentage. It’s just the third time all season he’s hit that number in at least three consecutive games and the first time since hitting it in six straight appearances from Nov. 22 to Dec. 5.
Earlier in the day, the Avs announced the signing of veteran forward Zach Parise to a one-year deal for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Parise, 39, is expected to join his teammates in Denver during the break and potentially make his debut on Feb. 5 when Colorado opens a six-game road trip at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.
“I’m pretty sure that he’s going to be in (next) Thursday or Friday,” Bednar said of Parise. “We have some guys that are gonna skate Friday and Saturday on their own. We can’t force them to do any of that. And Sunday morning, we practice and leave. So he’ll be here and wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the ice either Friday or Saturday. But definitely Sunday morning before we go.”
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