Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon first player to 50 goals this season
A brilliant season for Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon rolled on Wednesday night, as his goal in the team’s game against the Vancouver Canucks made him the first player in the NHL this season to reach the 50-goal mark.
MacKinnon got it done in fashion, too, as he danced around three Canucks before wiring a perfectly placed wrist shot from distance past Kevin Lankinen to level the score at one apiece early in the first period.
50 GOALS FOR NATHAN MACKINNON! 🚨
This is just the second time in the 2013 first overall pick’s career in which he has reached 50 goals, as he also achieved the feat back in 2023-24, when he had 51 goals and 89 assists for 140 points, setting career bests in all three categories.
While MacKinnon is not quite matching that pace in terms of assists, with 71 in 72 games entering Wednesday’s game, he is now just two goals away from posting a new career high.
The Nova Scotia native has never won the Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s top goalscorer, but he is in the pole position as the regular season winds down.
MacKinnon has a three-goal lead over Montreal Canadiens star winger Cole Caufield, who has himself shattered his career best with 47 goals in 73 games. Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston are the only other players with 40.
Just as MacKinnon appears on his way to the Richard, the Avalanche are cruising toward a Presidents’ Trophy win as the league’s top regular season team. With 108 points, Colorado is up by eight points on the Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes.
Barring a shocking collapse, the Avs will face off with the West’s second wild card team, a spot that has been held by numerous different teams and is likely to come down to the wire. A second-round matchup would come against Dallas or Minnesota, two of the other top teams in the NHL, due to the NHL’s division-centric playoff format.
In a decorated Stanley Cup Playoff career, MacKinnon has 55 goals and 70 assists for 125 points in 95 games played.