The Colorado Avalanche are looking to reach the Western Conference Finals with a win Wednesday night. They lead their best-of-seven Western Conference Semifinals series against the St. Louis Blue 3-1. Colorado came out hot in Game 5 at home, scoring twice in the first period, to take a 2-0 lead.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon got the scoring started a little under four minutes into the game. As the period was winding down, the Avalanche were on the power play and once again, MacKinnon struck. In what was his seventh goal of this postseason, he reached a truly historic plateau.
The Avalanche center has 80 career playoff points, amassing them in his first 59 playoff games of his career. Only Wayne Gretzky (37 games), Mario Lemieux (40 games) and Jari Kurri (57 games) accomplished that in less playoff games.
Nathan MacKinnon reached 80 points in 59 career postseason games, tied for the 4th-fastest in Stanley Cup Playoff History.
Only Wayne Gretzky (37), Mario Lemieux (40), and Jari Kurri (57) did it faster. pic.twitter.com/58lgsrCk6n
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 26, 2022
Those considered by most people as two of the five greatest players in NHL history, including the top two in Gretzky and Lemieux.
The Avalanche have been building more and more offensive talent over the last handful of years. Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen and youngster Cale Makar are all outstanding weapons. They also feature one of the league’s best goalies in Darcy Kuemper.
Both the Avalanche and the Blues would score a goal in the second period. Colorado is 20 minutes away from improving to 8-1 in the playoffs and rolling on to the next round. Assuming they are able to hold on and advance, Colorado will face the winner of the Calgary Flames versus the Edmonton Oilers series. The Oilers currently lead that series 3-1 with Game 5 Thursday in Calgary.
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