Nathan MacKinnon fell under the radar a bit last season as the Avalanche plummeted down the standings. But he’s off to a good start for a much-improved team with 28 points in 23 games this season. On Wednesday, he added to his total in a 3-2 win over the Jets where he scored not one, but two overtime goals.
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice in overtime to beat the Jets
One of them was waved off, but the other ended the game.
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The first one, of course, was waved off for offside. You can’t actually score twice in a sudden death NHL overtime. But you can score and think you’ve won, have it taken away by the cruelty of a video review, then score again and actually win. MacKinnon pulled that off Thursday.
Here’s the first goal, which would be waved off for offside on Tyson Barrie:
Here’s the shot of Barrie unable to get back behind the blue line in time, which stopped the victory celebration dead in its tracks:
But MacKinnon would come through in the clutch less than a minute later to give the Avalanche the victory for real. This time, he’d shoot the puck through traffic to beat Connor Hellebuyck for a goal that couldn’t be relinquished:
With that goal, MacKinnon is now tied for 10th in the NHL in points. He’s shooting a career-high 12.5 percent, up from a career rate of 8.1 percent entering this season, and is tied for the seventh-most assists in the league. Only Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Jaden Schwartz, and Phil Kessel are averaging more points per game.
