Nathan MacKinnon showcased an exceptional performance, marking a significant milestone in his career by scoring a hat trick, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-2 victory. This achievement brought MacKinnon to 50 goals for the season, the first time he has reached this mark in his career, accumulating 136 points. His performance against the Minnesota Wild, where he scored three goals on nine shots before the 3rd period even started, has solidified his standing as a leading contender for the Hart Trophy, reflecting his value as the NHL's most valuable player. Additionally, Cale Makar set a new franchise record for points by a defenseman with 87, scoring his 20th goal of the year, surpassing his previous record. MacKinnon's achievements this season include three hat tricks, highlighting his exceptional skill and contributing to the MVP chants from fans at Ball Arena.
Again, Nathan MacKinnon has the Hart Trophy on lock: 77% of the first-place votes from the voters we surveyed in the last NHL Awards Watch. Could there be some wavering? Could 100 McDavid assists or 70 Matthews goals cut into that? Sure. But not enough. https://t.co/rNwHMUT2cp
Minnesota goes to the box and MacKinnon comes off the bench #Avs #GoAvsGo @TheRinkColorado https://t.co/N62xI89Lgq
The adrenaline rush is over for Avalanche center Casey Mittelstadt. Now the finishing touches on settling in remain https://t.co/69pMsk0f81
Nate Dogg is a freight train. https://t.co/w4EsUzra2q
Mackinnon #goavsgo https://t.co/SDM8460sg6
Nathan MacKinnon completes the hatty! 🎩🔥 https://t.co/XezvSS2nFi
Nathan MacKinnon reached the 50-goal mark in a season for the first time in his career thanks to his third hat trick of 2023-24. #NHLStats: https://t.co/djVhaPAOAQ https://t.co/1rOV7jnAgi
Replays of these MacKinnon goals are incredible. Just shot out of a cannon. He has caught each of the #mnwild’s top 4 D flatfooted on all 3, and two being Brodin and Faber. That’s rare. MacKinnon is a freak of nature
Nathan MacKinnon completes the hatty! 🎩🔥 https://t.co/3XGKoAqVZt
Shots through 40 minutes MacKinnon: 9 Makar: 6 Rest of the Avs: 9
You're going to want to watch these three Nathan MacKinnon goals. 🥵 This guy is absolutely RIDICULOUS. Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS https://t.co/POe9Ti2k0u
MACKINNON HAT TRICK Video game speed @spittinchiclets https://t.co/Wm82Qi3CKI
Kucherov 0-3-3 tonight MacKinnon 3-1-4 through 40 minutes https://t.co/LcARzJNBsT
Mackinnon is a machine! My goodness! 🫨4 pts- 3 goals and an assist… 3rd period hasn’t even started yet 👀… https://t.co/TibUnhkCy2
MacKinnon hattrick. What the hell man. Just give him all the damn hardware. MVP.
MacKinnon entered the season with four career hat tricks and never more than one in a single season. He's up to 3 this year.
This is incredible. MacKinnon absolutely making the Wild (and other teams) look foolish. Wild defensemen look like they are skating in quicksand
MACKINNON HATTIE ALERT!!!!!!!! #Avs #GoAvsGo @TheRinkColorado https://t.co/fC7d11LSiz
MacKinnon with 3 goals on 9 shots through two periods tonight vs Minnesota. Goals 49, 50 & 51 on the season. also has an assist
All three of Nathan MacKinnon's goals are just absurd. You simply cannot defend a guy moving that fast with the puck. It's not fair.
MacKinnon does the thing, again https://t.co/NVqbZDvTkJ
Nathan MacKinnon hat trick. Another breakaway. 5-2 Colorado
Another hat trick for Nathan MacKinnon. My goodness. Poor Middleton is going to have nightmares about that guy. 5-2 Avalanche.
Two tremendous goals for MacKinnon tonight. What a Hart race, but this guy is a wrecking ball
MVP chants for MacKinnon after the announcement of his 50th goal of the season https://t.co/eE7fbaBHRu
That's the 50th goal for Nathan MacKinnon, his three-point night giving him 136 points on season. Fans yelling "MVP!" here at Ball Arena
That looked like a Halifax play. Jonathan Drouin leaves it for Nathan MacKinnon, miscommunication between the Wild D and they didn't have a chance after that. 4-2 #Avs 50 goals, 136 points for MacKinnon
50 for MacKinnon. https://t.co/xvNSWBWL5q
Nathan MacKinnon again off the rush. 4-2 Avalanche
Oh my goodness. What a behind the back pass by Drouin to hit MacKinnon in stride. You can't defend that. 4-2 Avs.
Nathan MacKinnon No. 50
Cale Makar with a twisted wrister to get the lead back for the Avs and now has 87 pts.....as a defenseman! #Avs #GoAvsGo @TheRinkColorado https://t.co/4A0gzBFRRx
Cale Makar has set a new franchise record for points by an #Avs defenseman with 87. 20th goal of the year, too. He has officially passed ... himself, from two years ago. *Insert Obama giving Obama a medal here* 3-2 Avs
Cale Makar with the go-ahead goal, a wrister from outside the right circle. 3-2 Colorado
Nathan MacKinnon just activated DRS. 💨 📺: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/FmPv8M6v1l https://t.co/nFYA3bhPH3
Zach Bogosian waited about three seconds to long to stop skating backwards. He was dead well before he knew it. Nathan MacKinnon on the self-made breakway. 2-0 #Avs 135 for MacKinnon 86 for Makar (ties his franchise record)
Nathan MacKinnon breakaway. 2-0 Avalanche, who already have 11 shots before the 10-minute mark.
Holy crap. MacKinnon just shot out of a cannon there, bursts past Brodin and beats Gustavsson. 2-0.
MacKinnon is a cheat code. 2-0 Avs
Cale Makar shot, Nathan MacKinnon slick pass off the rebound to Artturi Lehkonen between the hashmarks with the goalie moving. That's a layup for him from there. 1-0 #Avs 134 for MacKinnon (five from the franchise record) 85 for Makar (one from tying his franchise record)
Cale Makar shot, Nathan MacKinnon slick pass off the rebound to Artturi Lehkonen between the hashmarks with the goalie moving. That's a layup for him from there. 1-0 #Avs 134 for MacKinnon (from the franchise record) 85 for Makar (one from tying his franchise record)
On Colorado's second power play just 4:34 into the game, Artturi Lehkonen buries a Nathan MacKinnon pass from the slot after MacKinnon scooped up a rebound. 1-0 Colorado
Nathan MacKinnon, quite good at hockey.
Is Nathan MacKinnon bringing home the Hart Trophy this season? 🤔🏆 @aidan_thakkar https://t.co/J3v85B6IFu
Who’s in contention for the Hart Trophy? A look at NHL MVP candidates. https://t.co/xPpKP9QTOw
NHL Vezina Trophy candidates breakdown: Connor Hellebuyck leads an impressive group ⤵️ https://t.co/Jv0Ay5PlVg