Colorado Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon of Halifax, Nova Scotia was named the National Hockey League First Star of the Month for December, 2023 according to Jackie Kay of sbnation.com on Wednesday. He had 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 15 games.
MacKinnon also set the Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise record for most points in a single month. Peter Stastny had 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points while with the Nordiques in February of 1981.
Also during the month of December, MacKinnon was a +2 with four penalty minutes, 12 power-play points, one game-winning goal, 59 shots on goal, 13 hits, nine blocked shots, and 131 faceoff wins. MacKinnon’s game-winning goal came on December 11 in a 6-5 Avalanche win over the Calgary Flames. He scored from Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen with four minutes and 30 seconds left in regulation to break a 5-5 deadlock.
In 2023-24, MacKinnon has 20 goals and 41 assists for 61 points. He is a +8 with 28 penalty minutes, 25 power-play points, three game-winning goals, 169 shots on goal, 292 faceoff wins, 31 blocked shots, 27 hits, 20 takeaways, and 43 giveaways.
The Avalanche currently have a record of 24 wins, 11 regulation losses, and three losses in extra time for 51 points. They are tied with the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks for the second most points in the NHL. Only the Boston Bruins with 52 points, have more points this season than Colorado.
