Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, left, collects the puck as Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, right, pursues in the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, in Denver. The Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers have been two of the best four teams in the NHL since mid-November. They boast two of the top three or four players in the world, not to mention both sides featuring a robust group of supporting stars.
Nov. 11 was the day the Avs got run out of Ball Arena in embarrassing fashion by the St. Louis Blues, an 8-2 defeat that left Jared Bednar seething in his postgame interview and the Avs with an 8-5-0 record. That same day was a positive one for Edmonton. The Oilers won for only the third time in their first 13 contests — a 3-9-1 start left them in 31st place in the league standings.
An obvious storyline will be MacKinnon, the league’s leading scorer, against Connor McDavid, who has been on a tear to get within striking distance of him and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in the Art Ross Trophy race. MacKinnon has a career-high 115 points, and is six shy of the Colorado single-season season.
McDavid has won the Art Ross in five of the past seven seasons. He’s also won the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times. A sixth Art Ross would tie McDavid with Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe for the second-most all-time behind Wayne Gretzky’s 10. A fourth Hart would tie him with Eddie Shore for third behind Gretzky and Howe .Colorado Avalanche |MacKinnon is vying for his first major individual trophy. He’s finished second twice and third once.
“We have to be very careful against these guys,” MacKinnon said. “They have so many weapons, obviously the best player in the league. There’s a lot of guys who are very, very good over there that we have to keep an eye on.”Colorado snow totals for March 13-15, 2024More than $200 to go bowling? Why some metro Denver alleys are so expensive now.
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