The Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon seems to always save some of his best hockey for the playoffs and that did not change on Wednesday night in Game Five against the St. Louis Blues. The 26-year-old center recorded the second postseason hat trick of his career and capped it off in tremendous style.
This goal is some coast-to-coast, must-see action.
NATHAN MACKINNON ARE YOU FOR REAL???!!!?? 🧢🧢🧢#StanleyCup | #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/9cOvfE422J
MacKinnon starts the play by picking up the puck behind his own net and then just turns the speed dial to eleven. He disregards all teammates and opposition, cuts straight through the center of the ice, makes defenseman Nick Leddy look like he doesn’t even exist, and then beats goaltender Ville Husso shortside.
The goal gave the Avs a 4-3 lead with just 2:46 remaining in the third period and brought a downpour of hats onto the ice inside of Ball Arena.
I suddenly have some new hats. pic.twitter.com/xfgAiAu0LX
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) May 26, 2022
MacKinnon is the first player in Avalanche team history to have two playoff hat tricks and is now seventh in all-time playoff goals per game. Here are the only names that remain in front of him in that latter category: Cam Neely, Maurice Richard, Barry Pederson, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux, Newsy Lalonde.
Man, what a way for the Avs to win and eliminate the Blues…right? Wrong.
ROBERT THOMAS TIES IT ONCE AGAIN! 😱😱#StanleyCup | #stlblues pic.twitter.com/0Ssgpyh1Qc
Oh, well the super-powered Avs would surely still prove to be too much in overtime, right? The Blues were done? Wrong again.
Tyler Bozak scores the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner for the @StLouisBlues in Game 5. #StanleyCup | #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/W3gPtrHlKk
Avs were at 94% and then 98% chance to win before Blues comeback goals. https://t.co/FPNwSxHQ08 pic.twitter.com/OVacgPq1dq
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) May 26, 2022
Colorado will get another shot at finding the Western Conference Final in St. Louis on Friday as Game Six starts at 8:00 PM ET.
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