Nathan MacKinnon of Springhill, Nova Scotia continued to make a difference for the Colorado Avalanche in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. On Monday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, MacKinnon notched two goals and one assist for three points as the Avalanche trounced the Calgary Flames 6-2 in a dominating team performance.
MacKinnon had all three of his points in the first period. He opened the scoring on the power play at 8:26 from Tyson Barrie of Victoria, British Columbia and J.T. Compher. MacKinnon then put the Avalanche up 2-0 with another power play marker at 13:34 from Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. Then with 3:58 left in the first period, MacKinnon and Alexander Kerfoot of Vancouver, British Columbia picked up assists on the first National Hockey League goal ever scored by Cale Makar of Calgary, Alberta. Interestingly Makar, who won the 2019 Hobey Baker Award, was playing in his first ever NHL game and it came in the playoffs. Makar’s goal was also the game winning goal which put Colorado up 3-0 at the time. With the win, the Avalanche take a 2-1 first round series lead over the Calgary Flames.
Meanwhile in Carolina, the Hurricanes had multi-point performances from four Canadians in a dominant 5-0 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. Warren Foegele of Markham, Ontario led Carolina in scoring with two goals and one assist for three points. Doug Hamilton of Toronto, Ontario scored twice, Brock McGinn of Fergus, Ontario had one goal and one assist for two points and Jordan Staal of Thunder Bay, Ontario had two assists. The Capitals still lead the series 2-1.
In Toronto, the Maple Leafs took a 2-1 series lead on the Boston Bruins with a 3-2 win. The Maple Leafs goal scorers were Auston Matthews, Trevor Moore and Andreas Johnsson. The Predators also took a 2-1 series lead on the Dallas Stars with a 3-2 win in Texas.
