Nathan MacKinnon throws down in epic fight, scores twice in wild Avs opening win

The Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings played a wild season opener on Wednesday night at Ball Arena and superstar Nathan MacKinnon was involved at every turn.

MacKinnon scored two goals and got into an epic fight late in the game, the cherry on top of an Avs beatdown by a score of 8-4.

With fewer than seven minutes to go in the game, MacKinnon invited Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke to square off. Clarke accepted, but it did not go well for him. At all.

Here’s Nathan MacKinnon beating the living daylights out of Brandt Clarke. Moment of the night in a crazy game 🥊 pic.twitter.com/01BvqUKaXb

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) October 1, 2026

Nathan MacKinnon spoke on the fight and called it “an intense game” but also said Clarke used a word that he didn’t like so they fought.

Here’s Nathan MacKinnon on his fight tonight. Said Brandt Clarke said a word he didn’t like — and MacKinnon took it from there 🥊 pic.twitter.com/g3SomRSewK

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) October 1, 2026

Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar said Nathan MacKinnon can turn into the Hulk when he’s angry and he wouldn’t want to fight him.

He complimented MacKinnon’s technique and said he can get into a mode where opposing players shouldn’t mess around.

Cale Makar told me Nathan MacKinnon can turn into the Hulk and he wouldn’t want to fight him 😳 pic.twitter.com/p9jilx2END

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) October 1, 2026

Special teams were the other story of the contest, with Colorado scoring four power play goals (good), but also allowing two shorthanded goals (bad). Overall the Avs finished 4-5 on the power play, while L.A. went 0-4, although they did score on a delayed penalty with 8:09 to go in the game.

That made it 6-4, but the Avalanche would get two more goals after that, including one from captain Gabriel Landeskog that extended the lead to 7-4 and all but ended it.

A wild second period had six total tallies, four from the Avalanche and two from the Kings. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for Colorado, including during a 5-on-3 power play only 23 seconds into the frame. He added another off a sweet pass from Martin Necas.

A friendly reminder:

IT'S WHAT THE DOGG DOES 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ycjhxN6jk9

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 1, 2026

Nicolas Roy and Artturi Lehkonen would also score for the Avalanche during the second, but in between the Kings scored not one but two shorthanded goals on Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood. The Avs desperately want Blackwood to be the No. 1 goalie — but he’d likely want both tallies back.

Overall, four of the six goals in the period came with Colorado on the power play. Two for the Avs — which is great news — and two for the Kings — which is not.

The first 20 minutes were also eventful with three goals. Brock Nelson scored Colorado’s first of the year, which was important for two reasons.

First, Nelson struggled in the playoffs a few months back so it was a nice reset for him with a fresh campaign off and rolling. And second — the Avalanche’s power play was well below their standard last year.

Nelson scored with the second power-play unit 6:33 into the game and that opened the floodgates the rest of the night. Lehkonen’s two goals also came with the second group on the ice.

And after Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin tied things 1-1, Colorado winger Parker Kelly scored a beauty to make it 2-1. In fact, it was a two-on-one break and Kelly decided to do it himself, beating L.A. goalie (and old Avalanche friend) Darcy Kuemper clean.

BREAKING: Great guy scores great goal ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/YrhKadE4yt

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 1, 2026

Overall, it’s a great start to a season with Stanley Cup expectations for the Avalanche.

The power play was cooking on offense, but needs to be cleaned up on defense — which shouldn’t ever be a huge concern.

But when this one is talked about on Thursday around the water cooler it’ll be all about Nathan MacKinnon. An amazing fight and two goals, just another night at the office for the best player in the NHL.

And an 84-game regular season journey with hopefully a championship destination has begun. If Wednesday was any indication of how things will play out, fans should buckle up.

Related

Joe Sakic defends Jared Bednar extension, looks to players to get ‘big goal’ or ‘big save’Jared Bednar ‘ecstatic’ about new contract, ‘not worried about outside noise’No lame-duck season: Avs lock up Jared Bednar on opening dayAvalanche name Andrew Cogliano, Cup champion as a player, new assistant GMCale Makar is back from injury, might play for the Avalanche in the preseasonKSE spending $135 million on Ball Arena — still no new practice facility for Jokic or MacKinnon