Nathan MacKinnon etched his name into Denver sports history

MacKinnon's game-tying goal with 1:23 remaining capped a stunning comeback from down 3-0, sending the Avs to an overtime victory

BY JOEY FREEBURG

May 14, 2026, 5:21 PM Updated: 5:23 pm

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There are goals that win hockey games. And then there are goals that transcend them — the kind that live forever in a city’s memory.

Nathan MacKinnon scored that kind of goal on Wednesday night.

Nathan MacKinnon sends the game to OT 🤯#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/YtGymgp89Q

— Denver Sports 104.3 (@DenSports1043) May 14, 2026

On a Thursday edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, hosts Josh Dover and Cecil Lammey attempted to process what the Colorado Avalanche had just accomplished — a 4-3 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, completed after falling behind 3-0. It was a comeback that defied every expectation.

But none of it happens without what MacKinnon did with 1:23 left on the clock. Lammey was still in disbelief.

“In that moment, when MacKinnon knocks that one in, who even thinks to go to that spot!” he said.

It is the kind of play that separates the great players from the legendary ones. With a loss staring the Avalanche in the face, MacKinnon found a look that didn’t appear to exist, positioning himself in precisely the right place at precisely the right moment — the way only a generational talent operating on pure instinct can.

Dover saw something even more primal in the sequence.

“He’s like, I’m gonna take his head off or I’m scoring a goal,” Dover said of MacKinnon’s approach against Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt.

There was no hesitation. No second-guessing. Just a player refusing to let the moment pass him by. MacKinnon has long been recognized as one of the premier talents in the NHL, a player whose speed, skill and competitiveness have placed him among the greatest to ever wear an Avalanche sweater. But what he did last night elevated the conversation beyond hockey.

Lammey said it plainly.

“That’s one of the best moments in Denver sports we just saw,” the host said. “In the history of Denver sports, that’s one of the best moments that we just saw last night!”

Denver is a city with no shortage of iconic sporting memories — Elway’s helicopter, Sakic hoisting the cup, the Nuggets’ championship run. MacKinnon’s goal now belongs in that conversation. Right in the center of it.