MacKinnon caps remarkable turnaround with memorable season finale
Apr 15, 2023, 2:41 PM
Nathan MacKinnon finished his best regular season as a hockey god, netting a hat trick, including the game winner with 1:42 left to finish off the Nashville Predators 4-3. The win clinched the Central Division title for the Avalanche, securing two possible home-ice rounds in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, starting with the second-year Seattle Kracken on Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
The numbers for MacK this season are stunning: A career-high 42 goals, a career-high 111 points in 71 games, his hat trick was his fourth of his career and sixth including playoffs. More importantly, Nate led his team to remarkable turnaround. In January, the Avs were 14 points behind the Winnipeg Jets. It’s the 10th-biggest point differential reversal in NHL history.
“It’s a testament to our teams resilience,” said MacK on Friday’s broadcast. “It was a tough year. I’m glad the regular season is over. It doesn’t usually mean a ton (to win the division), but we battled hard to be here.”
It was all a dizzying blur to “Nate the Great.”
“I don’t even know who we have. Seattle?” he asked. “Okay. Tough, very tough. We will have to be at our best to beat them.”
MacKinnon’s head coach raved about his star player.
“He was a man on a mission tonight,” said coach Jared Bednar. “He was a part of everything we generated in the offensive side. There’s no doubt we had guys who were tired playing seven (games) of 11 (nights). It was pretty special.”
Mikko Rantanen felt significant relief after the game being the team’s Ironman, playing in all 82 contests.
“It’s just about our team,” said the Moose. “The adversity we had with the most injuries in the history of the league. With a healthy lineup, who knows how many points we had. Happy to play in all the games.”
Rantanen, unlike Nate, knew exactly what was up next.
“The defensive game and checking game wins you the championships,” he offered. “We’ve been working on it. Hopefully, we can keep it up. It’s not gonna be easy against Seattle.”
Bednar was equally as satisfied after what was a tremendous grind.
“I think it should mean a lot,” said Bednar. “They have put their heart and soul into these games. Our leaders have been outstanding. Achieving our season goal to secure our division and secure home ice. We should feel good about it.”
The biggest outsider to this hockey collective by a mile was goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. He was acquired to replace Cup hero Darcy Keumper. It was never clear how Georgie was going to fit in with a unit that had achieved so much. As the season concluded in Nashville, the numbers spoke for themselves.
Georgiev tied Linus Ullmark for the NHL lead in wins with 40. In addition, he joins Semyon Varlamov (41 in 2013-14) and Patrick Roy (40 in 2000-01) as the only Avalanche/Nordiques goaltenders to win 40-plus games in a season.
Georgie was starting on back-to-back nights for the fifth time this season. He finished 4-0-1 on the second end of those games.
“He’s played multiple back-to-backs and really carried he load with Frankie out,” said Bednar about his stellar keeper. “The more we played him the better he got. (He) proved management right. Good job scouting by the management team.”
Bednar remarked that this was a much different team than last year and it was about finding a way to win in a different style.
“It’s a different team,” the head coach said. “You still want to stay true to what you believe in. It’s not always gonna look the same. It’s about buying in.”
The way the Avs found ways to win, focus on the goal at hand and persevere this year is nothing short than flabbergasting. They now remain as formidable an opponent as any left in hockey.
“I’m excited just like the players,” Bednar said. “We are looking forward to this time of the year. To finish at the top of the division is a great accomplishment for this team.”
Take a breath Avs. You have more than earned it. A new season starts fresh with the Kraken Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
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