Colorado Avalanche fans are used to seeing crazy things from Nathan MacKinnon and right now, he’s on another wild run that might be his best one yet. MacKinnon is currently on a 13-game point streak – marking the seventh time in his career he’s scored a point in at least 11-straight games.
During the current run, he’s piled up six goals and 15 assists to push his team-leading point total to 41 through the team’s first 29 games. Seeing runs like this from MacKinnon is nothing new, but he has a chance to match his career-best streak of 15 games this weekend. Here’s a look back at some of MacKinnon’s most memorable surges.
MacKinnon’s Streaks Come From Consistency
Statistically, MacKinnon’s best season was last season, as he piled up career highs in goals (42), assists (69) and points (111). He was critical in the Avalanche’s late-season surge to win the Central Division. He had an 11-game point streak at the end of the campaign where he posted seven goals and 20 points.
Oddly enough, that was the only substantial streak MacKinnon had last season. However, he went back-to-back games without a point just once – and he promptly followed up that mini-skid with a hat trick and an assist in the season finale. He also scored at least a point in five of Colorado’s seven playoff games, as the Avs were ousted in the first round by the Seattle Kraken in seven games.
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The last two seasons show MacKinnon’s ridiculous consistency, particularly in bouncing back from scoreless games. He also posted 38 multi-point games in 2022-23, which was exactly twice as many as he managed in the season they won the Stanley Cup. This consistency is the driving force behind why MacKinnon is able to pile up so many lengthy scoring streaks, and it also shows he’s probably not done doing even more damage this season.
MacKinnon on Fire on Way to Cup
The 2021-22 season was memorable for MacKinnon not only because he won his first Stanley Cup, but also because it was a remarkable season of scoring consistency for the superstar forward. He started the season on an impressive surge, recording a point in 20 of the team’s first 21 games, including a stretch of 13 games in a row. He had five goals and 34 points over those 21 contests.
He continued that with another 12-game point streak in February that featured 10 goals. MacKinnon finished the season with 32 goals for his fourth 30-goal campaign. His longest streak without scoring a point was just two games that season, and he carried that over into the playoffs. In the team’s 20-game playoff run to their third championship, MacKinnon recording at least a point in 18 of those contests.
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This was the defining season of MacKinnon’s career, even if Cale Makar edged him out for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. The fact that two of his longest point streaks of his career came in that season was no coincidence, and he’s starting to look like he’s in that form again. After all, the last time he had a 13-game point streak in December, the Avalanche went on to hoist the sport’s most prized trophy.
MacKinnon Aims to Stretch Current Streak
MacKinnon’s career-best point-scoring streak is 15 games, set during the last part of the 2020-21 season. He had nine goals and 26 points over that stretch and helped push the Avalanche to the Presidents’ Trophy. He needs points in his next two games to match his career high, and there’s a good chance he can do it. The Avalanche take on the Winnipeg Jets and the San Jose Sharks in its next two games, and MacKinnon has found success against those teams throughout his career.
He tallied a goal and an assist in the Avalanche’s 4-2 loss to the Jets on Dec. 7, but he’ll be playing against the Sharks for the first time this season. For his career, MacKinnon has racked up 15 goals and 36 points in 37 games against the Jets, with 16 goals and 40 points in 32 career games against the Sharks. He’s only scored more than 40 points against two other teams – the Minnesota Wild (50) and St. Louis Blues (49). However, the sample size is a bit larger as he has 44 career games against both of those teams.
The longest point streak in franchise history came from Mats Sundin, who went 30 consecutive contests with at least a point early in the 1992-93 season. The club moved to Denver in 1995, and longest point streak by a player in an Avalanche jersey is 20 games by Paul Stastny in 2006-07. Sundin’s run was particularly impressive, as he racked up 21 goals and 46 points in those games. MacKinnon’s consistency means he could stretch this out to a career-high streak or longer, but keep your eyes peeled. Even if he doesn’t get it over this weekend’s games, there’s a chance he could put together another similar streak later this season.
