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As Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon chases his first Hart Trophy — and maybe even his first Art Ross Trophy — he may have achieved living legend status in the process.
With a goal and two assists in Colorado’s 5-4 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 24, MacKinnon set a new single-season points record for the Avalanche (122). He also extended his point streak to 18 games and recorded a point in his 34th straight home game.
Per NHL PR, MacKinnon can become the fifth player in NHL history with at least one point during all of a team’s home games in a season, joining Gretzky with the 1988-89 Kings (40 GP), Babe Dye with the 1921-22 Toronto St. Patricks (12 GP), Frank Nighbor with the 1918-19 Ottawa Senators (9 GP) and Jack McDonald with the 1917-18 Montreal Wanderers (3 GP).
MacKinnon Sets Avalanche Single-Season Points Record
MacKinnon’s 18-game point streak is one shy of matching his NHL career high set from Nov. 20 to Dec. 27, 2023 (19 games) earlier this season. He has 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) during the streak and joins Wayne Gretzky as the only other player in NHL history to have two different point streaks of at least 18 games in the same season. He has an assist in nine straight games and in 21 consecutive home contests with Colorado.
MacKinnon has 76 points (28 goals, 48 assists) during his season-opening home streak, which is the second-longest in NHL history; Gretzky owns the longest at 40 games (Los Angeles Kings, 1988-89). MacKinnon also has 122 points (44 goals, 78 assists) on the season, passing former Colorado player and current president of hockey operations Joe Sakic (120 points in 1995-96) for the most in a season in Avalanche history.
“This guy’s a phenomenal player, right? But that’s pretty good company,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar told Ryan Boulding of NHL.com. “When you’re talking about our boss that’s had such a phenomenal career, and then you watch what Nate’s doing, it just speaks to who Nate is as a player and what he’s capable of.”
MacKinnon is now 17 points shy of the single-season franchise record of 139 set by Peter Stastny for the Quebec Nordiques in 1981-82.
Avalanche Complete 4-Goal Comeback Win Over Penguins
Colorado rallied from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Penguins 5-4 in overtime. It was the Avalanche’s 25th come-from-behind win this season and just third time in franchise history they’ve rallied to win after trailing by four or more goals.
MacKinnon had a goal and an assist in the third period and added an assist on Jonathan Drouin’s game winner 54 seconds into overtime.
“That’s one of the most explosive offenses in the League that we played against,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said in his postgame media availability. “We knew they were going to push back. We competed hard all night.”
The Avalanche rallied from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Penguins less than 24 hours after the Blackhawks completed a four-goal comeback of their own against the San Jose Sharks. The NHL had a four-goal comeback victory on consecutive days for the second time in league history (also Detroit on Feb. 22, 1972 & Boston on Feb. 23, 1972).
Colorado currently holds the top spot in the Central Division with 97 points and a game in hand over the second-place Dallas Stars. MacKinnon will have the opportunity to extend his point streak to a career-high 19 games – and his home point streak to 35 games — when the Avalanche host the Montreal Canadiens on March 26.