Draisaitl reaches incredible milestone against Colorado Avalanche
Photo credit: Imagn Images
The Colorado Avalanche leaned on their star to beat out the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 in a thrilling showdown Friday night which is closing out both teams' schedules before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
Nathan MacKinnon continued his MVP-caliber season by racking up a goal and three assists while Cale Makar added two goals and an assist and was leading leading the charge for Colorado.
The victory marked the Avalanche's second straight win and fourth in their last five games.
«You need your big guys to be at their best and carry the load every night,» said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. «You're hoping to get the secondary support on most nights to help you win, but when you're coming in on a back-to-back and there's lots of special teams, there's a bigger role for them to play and they stepped up tonight and got the job done.»
Necas notched his 20th of the season and his continuing his hot streak after a two-goal performance in Calgary.
On the Oilers' side, Leon Draisaitl scored twice which was including his 40th of the season, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Avalanche's offensive.
The game was a rare quiet night for Connor McDavid, who was held off the scoresheet entirely.
MacKinnon's four-point night pushed him to a league-leading 87 points, four ahead of Draisaitl.
«It was a weird game, lot of penalties, not a ton of 5-on-5, but the chances that we had we buried and I thought overall we did a pretty good job defensively on their top players,» said MacKinnon. «Obviously it's not easy, but everyone did a solid job tonight.»
Makar is leading all NHL defensemen with 22 goals and 63 points and is on pace for career highs which is further solidifying his status as one of the league's premier blueliners.
«It was pretty back-and-forth and there was a lot of special teams going on as well, so the rhythm of the game was a little different tonight," Jared Bednar said. "For us to be able to come in here and grab two points is really big, especially on a back-to-back.
The Oilers will look to reset after the break, while the Avalanche continue building momentum for the playoff push.
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