Colorado Avalanche beat Washington Capitals 6-2, MacKinnon with 4 goals and an assist
DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored three of his four goals consecutively in the second period for a natural hat trick and added an assist to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals 6-2 on Wednesday night.
MacKinnon, the NHL scoring leader with 82 points, had his second four-goal game of the season and eighth career hat trick. He ran his home points streak to 24 to break a tie with Joe Sakic for the franchise record.
“He’s always been the most dedicated guy off the ice since I’ve been here but what he’s doing this year, he’s really consistent with it,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m talking going from great to elite habits off the ice.”
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and four assists for his first five-point game, Cale Makar set the franchise record for goals by a defenseman with his 76th and Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves.
MacKinnon selflessly ceded a chance for his a hat trick Saturday in Philadelphia, passing to Logan O’Connor so he could get his first.
MacKinnon didn’t pass up the opportunity Wednesday, scoring three times in a 6:37 span of the second period. The first two were one-timers on the power play. On the third, he deked Charlie Lindgren and beat him with a
backhander at 9:16 for just the second natural hat trick since the franchise moved to Colorado in 1995. Sakic had the other one, March 13, 2003, at Columbus.
“It’s always nice to score four. I’d be lying if I said anything different,” MacKinnon said. “Right now they’re going in for me.”
