Nathan MacKinnon is battling for his first Art Ross Trophy and is in the running to potentially win his first Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. On Thursday, the Avalanche superstar accomplished another milestone, reaching 130 points for the first time in the Avs’ 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. He had a goal and two assists.

Colorado’s top center became only the sixth player in the last thirty years to accomplish the feat. He’s also just nine points away from tying the franchise mark for the most points in a season.

Artturi Lehkonen, Jonathan Drouin (two) and Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Avs, who improved to 48-22-6. Drouin also had an assist, elevating his points to 51 on the season. Drouin had just one assist in the first 10 games but has since recorded 50 points in 64 games. He is two points shy of his career high.

For Rantanen, the empty-netter to seal the two points gave him 40 goals in 2023-24, reaching the mark for the second consecutive season.

The trio of MacKinnon, Drouin and Rantanen, which makes up Colorado’s top line, helped the Avalanche pull within three points of the Dallas Stars for first place in both the Central Division and the Western Conference. The Avs and Stars meet one more time this season. Colorado has won each of the first three meetings.

MacKinnon is three points behind Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov in the NHL points race. Trailing four points behind in third place is Oilers star Connor McDavid. Both Kucherov and MacKinnon have six games remaining this season while McDavid and the Oilers have eight. The Avs travel to Edmonton on Friday for the second leg of a back-to-back before hosting the Oilers for the third and final meeting in the regular season finale on April 18.