The Colorado Avalanche celebrated a historic milestone with a six pack.
Nathan MacKinnon became the 100th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points, and the Avalanche finished off a perfect six-game homestand with a 3-0 victory Monday night against the Chicago Blackhawks. Scott Wedgewood was brilliant in net, making 21 saves for his second shutout of the season.
It took a while, thanks in part to a goal being overturned, but MacKinnon hit 1,000 on his first shift of the third period. He left the puck for a Devon Toews shot at the right point, and Artturi Lehkonen deflected it past Chicago goalie Spencer Knight at 31 seconds of the period.
“It’s cool,” MacKinnon said. “It’s a lot of fun to accomplish something with friends and teammates. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a (big) number. It’s a cool milestone, for sure.
“It’s a long road. A lot of ups and downs, but definitely a cool moment.”
That gave the Avs a 1-0 lead. They doubled the advantage when MacKinnon set up Martin Necas on his next shift for point No. 1,001.
The goal, at 3:27, was No. 22 on the season for Necas and MacKinnon’s 75th assist. A two-point night for MacKinnon gave him a league-leading 102, five more than Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl.
This was the first game for Erik Johnson since he returned to the Avalanche in a trade just before the deadline Friday. The Ball Arena patrons gave him a loud ovation when he took the ice for his first shift.
“It’s just amazing to be back,” Johnson said. “I don’t take a day for granted here. Love being an Av, love playing in Denver and playing in front of these fans.
“It was super special and cool to be here for Nate’s 1,000th. I remember his first point in Oct. 2013.”
When they weren’t cheering for Johnson or eagerly anticipating MacKinnon making history, Avs fans were chanting “Wedgie.” Colorado’s backup netminder put on a show with several outstanding saves.
That included one of the best saves of the NHL season. The Blackhawks had a 2-on-1 that Johnson broke up with a sliding stick swipe, but Connor Bedard collected the puck again in the high slot. Colton Dach ran into the goalie, knocking him over, but he was still able to kick his left leg in the air and deflect Bedard’s shot into the corer.
He made a couple of strong saves to help kill off a long 5-on-3 in the middle period, and then Wedgewood made another great, sprawling save on Nick Foligo. This was Wedgewood’s second stellar start in a row after he turned aside 32 of 33 shots in a March 4 win against Pittsburgh earlier in this homestand.
“He was fantastic,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Coming out of the break here, he’s been fantastic. That’s what we need. We’ve got a goalie that can win every single night for us. It gives you a better opportunity to win on nights like this when you’re not perfect with the puck.”
MacKinnon and the Avs thought he reached the 1,000-point milestone just 7:31 into the opening period. He set up Necas at the right post for a goal, and the entire team poured off the bench to celebrate.
The Blackhawks challenged for offsides and the goal was taken off the board after a lengthy review.
“We celebrated it twice, it was so good,” Bednar said.
Added MacKinnon: “Right when Marty scored, he thought it was offside. … I actually thought about that before the game, that that’s what would happen.”
MacKinnon is the third player to score 1,000 points with the Avalanche, joining Joe Sakic and Peter Stastny. The next big milestone on his horizon is tracking down Sakic for the most points since the franchise moved to Denver. Sakic had 1,015 of his 1,641 career points after the team came to Colorado from Quebec City in 1995.
Joel Kiviranta scored into an empty net in the final minute. It was Colorado’s 24th empty-net goal of the season, which ties the NHL record shared by Winnipeg last season and Dallas in 2015-16.
The Avs are now four points ahead of the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division. They will be in the Twin Cities on Tuesday night to face the Wild.
“Productive,” Bednar said when asked about the 6-0 homestand. “We played pretty good hockey. There was that one game in there, Pittsburgh, that I didn’t love, but I like the way we responded.
“I’m liking what I’m seeing from our group. We had a little bit of everything in the game tonight, even thought it was pretty sloppy.”
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