Defenseman Cale Makar reached another milestone and center Nathan MacKinnon extended his points streak to eight games with two assists as the red-hot Avalanche defeated the New York Rangers 4-2 on Tuesday night at Ball Arena to sweep the two-game season series.
Second-line winger Valeri Nichushkin had the game-winning and game-clinching goals and center Nazem Kadri, who missed the two previous games with an injury, had three assists in his magical season. He leads Colorado with 37 points in 23 games.
Five takeaways
Home cookin’ and on fire. The Avs (17-7-2), who downed the Rangers 7-3 last week at Madison Square Garden, won their eighth consecutive game at Ball Arena and have outscored their opponents 45-19 in that stretch. Colorado extended its winning streak to five games and its points streak to seven (6-0-1). This club is a league-best 13-2-1 in its last 16 and 15-3-2 over its last 20.
“Bobby” Makar. His end-to-end goal last week in Philadelphia had teammates comparing him to Bobby Orr, who won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman a record eight consecutive times from 1968-1975. Makar, 23, appears to be running away with the Norris this season after producing his 13th goal to become the first defenseman since 1988 — 10 years before he was born — to produce 13 tallies in his first 23 games.
Winnipeg’s Dave Ellett had 15 goals through 23 games in 1988-89 and no one has reached 13 quicker than Makar, who also had a shot clang off the crossbar late in the third period in what led to a disallowed power-play goal by J.T. Compher.
“I guess the pucks just seem to be going in right now,” Makar said. “I don’t anticipate it continuing throughout the year, it’s a little bit of a heavy pace right now. It seems cliché but a lot of credit goes back to guys moving the puck well and then creating lanes for everybody, especially even the goal that I scored tonight.”
Thanks to Makar, the Avs have a league-leading 28 goals from defensemen — eight more than any other team.
Kadri’s All-Star-worthy season. After missing the last two games with a lower-body ailment, Kadri produced his 12th multi-point game of the season and league-high sixth game with three points. Kadri ranks fourth in NHL scoring with 37 points and second in assists with 26.
He and Makar should be frontrunners to play in the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in February.
Great Nate. MacKinnon has just three goals but he’s registered a point in all eight games since returning from injury Dec. 1 at Toronto, a stretch where he has 13 points. MacKinnon has been limited to just 16 games but had produced a point in all but one — Nov. 6 at Columbus in the game he sustained a lower-body injury.
MacDermid downs Reaves. Offseason acquisition Kurtis MacDermid is a defenseman who is also used as a fourth-line forward and he might be the toughest guy in the league. Colorado loves his presence on and off the ice and was thrilled about his victorious fight against Ryan Reaves midway through the second period.
Reaves, who played for the Vegas Golden Knights the last four seasons, changed the momentum of the Avs-Knights playoff series last season with his intimidating ways. Colorado now has an answer to Reaves and anyone else in its way, and MacDermid, 27, proved that in his first professional fight against the aging enforcer (34).
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