Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon of Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been named the National Hockey League’s inaugural Star of the Week for the week of December 11-17, 2023. In four games, MacKinnon scored three goals and seven assists for ten points.
MacKinnon was also a +1 with two penalty minutes, a game-tying goal, five power play points, 12 shots on goal, five hits, two blocked shots and 48 faceoff wins. MacKinnon’s game-winning goal came in Colorado’s first win of the week, a 6-5 Colorado victory over the Calgary Flames on December 11th. He broke a 5-5 tie against Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen with four minutes and 30 seconds left in the third period.
In all four games last week, MacKinnon had a multi-point game. He had a goal and an assist for two points against the Flames, two assists in Colorado’s 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabers on December 13th, two assists in Colorado’s 6-2 loss against the Winnipeg Jets on December 16th. December and two goals and two assists for four points in the Avalanche’s 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on December 17.
In the 2023-24 season, MacKinnon leads the NHL in assists with 33. He also has 14 goals, 47 points and is a +8 with 24 penalty minutes, 16 power play points, two game-winning goals, 240 face-off wins, 29 blocked shots, 22 hits, 15 takeaways and 34 giveaways. The other game-winning goal came on October 21st in Colorado’s 6-4 win against the Carolina Hurricanes. That came from Artturi Lehkonen and Nichushkin.
The Avalanche are currently tied for first place in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars. They have 40 points each.
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