Game Analysis: Nate The Great and the Avs Roll Over Red Wings

Mack and Makar lead the way as Colorado beats Detroit for 10th straight time.

Sure it doesn’t have the same feel of those late-90s games, but any time the Avalanche beat the Red Wings, it’s a good day.

After one period of play, it didn’t feel like a win was a certainty as Detroit was the better team in the opening frame. However, 40 more minutes eased the mind and the late-game tension many fans experienced during the Ottawa contest as Colorado rolled to a 5-1 matinee win Saturday in the Motor City.

Devon Toews may have scored first to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead, but the Wings held a 16-6 edge in shots on goal and a Pius Suter tally less than two minutes later gave the home team confidence that they could beat the defending champs.

Confidence and execution are different, though.

Nathan MacKinnon continues to score goals because Nathan MacKinnon has decided that’s what Nathan MacKinnon does. This goal was the result of a beautiful breakout pass from Cale Makar, an equally great backhanded pass in a phonebooth at center ice from Denis Malgin and then a defense-splitting drive to the net and a perfect shot from the Dogg.

The goal? No big deal, just his 30th of the season to reach the milestone figure for the fifth time in his career. Only Joe Sakic (a decent player in his own right) has more 30-goal seasons in franchise history, hitting the number six times while playing in Denver.

But Mack is doing more than just scoring at an incredible pace. He is also proving to be one of the best puck distributors in the league right now as he added two assists for another three-point effort. His 88 points (30-58-88) despite missing 11 games is still pacing him for a career high as he tries to reach 100 for the first time (he still will lose out on a league MVP to a former Oilers’ No. 1 draft pick… but this time it won’t be total BS).