MacKinnon sets franchise scoring mark for Avalanche in win against Oilers

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon had two assists to set the single-season franchise scoring record for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Ball Arena on Thursday.

MacKinnon finished the season with 140 points (51 goals, 89 assists) to pass Peter Stastny, who had 139 points for the Quebec Nordiques in 1981-82.

“It’s cool. Definitely a legend in Peter Stastny, one of the best to ever play. He had some crazy seasons,” MacKinnon said. “He had a lot of better seasons than me overall. Obviously, reaching it is a team accomplishment. A lot of guys have helped me out along the way. We’ve had tons of great hockey this season, but my focus is definitely on the playoffs.”

MacKinnon finished second in the NHL, four points behind Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I haven't been a part of a team where there's a guy that scores 140 points or whatever. So, he's an incredible player,” Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said. “Pushes everybody every single day to be better, and that's all you can ask for from a leader on the team. So for him, he should be up for hopefully quite a few awards.”

Makar had an assist to become the 12th defenseman in NHL history with 90 points (21 goals, 69 assists) in a season for the Avalanche (50-25-7), who finished in third place in the Central Division. Valeri Nichushkin scored twice, and Justus Annunen made 25 saves.

“They didn't have any of their big guns in the lineup, and we got out to a really good start. Committed on both sides of it. I like what we did offensively,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar. “Started to turn the puck over too much a little bit later on in the game, just getting away from it, you know what I mean? Just trying to get through the game. So I didn't really love that part of it.”

The Avalanche will face the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Game 1 of the best-of-7 series will be at Winnipeg on Sunday.

“Every single year, the goal is to win a championship. And especially with the group that we have, there shouldn't be a doubt in anybody's mind that we're capable of doing that,” Makar said. “We have a group where you got to do everything right from the back end up. It's got to start with us, and we got to make sure that everybody plays their individual role to their perfection and as best of their abilities. Obviously, you don't want to settle for anything less than that, and for us, we got to take it step by step here.”

Dylan Holloway scored for the Oilers (49-27-6), who lost four of their final five (1-3-1) and finished in second place in the Pacific Division. Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on 13 shots before being replaced by Calvin Pickard at the start of the second period. Pickard made 14 saves in relief.

The Oilers did not play their top seven scorers: forwards Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane, and defensemen Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm.

“I think the first 10 minutes we were a little bit starstruck or just paralyzed, just trying to make the perfect play. We weren't moving our feet,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We were overthinking and ultimately we're just defending, and they were making plays and they really took it to us in the first 10 minutes.”

The Oilers will face the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs. Game 1 will be at Edmonton on Monday.

“For us it doesn't really matter [who we play],” Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “I think at the end of the year, there's so many good teams that make the playoffs, and you got to beat everybody to put yourself in a position to compete in the end. So it doesn't matter who you play.”

Nichushkin gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 1:19 of the first period when he one-timed a pass from Artturi Lehkonen at the right face-off dot.

Mikko Rantanen extended the lead to 2-0 at 5:48 with a wrist shot from just below the right dot that went short side over the shoulder of Skinner.

Nichushkin made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 7:37, redirecting a centering pass from MacKinnon at the right side of the crease.

“Actually, I think it's big for me before playoffs because I lost a couple of games to [injury],” Nichushkin said. “So, that was a good feeling for me, and yeah, it's big game coming. There'll be more confidence for me. It's good.”

Josh Manson made it 4-0 at 10:17 when his shot from the blue line deflected in off Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci.

Holloway cut it to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 15:22 of the first, deflecting Philip Broberg's point shot from between the hash marks.

“It just [stinks] to lose no matter what time of year it is, no matter who's in, who's out of the lineup,” Nurse said. “I think, for us, you got to take the lesson of that was a team over there that came out and played playoff ready, and it took us a little bit to respond to that. So you don't have that luxury and wiggle room once you get into the real thing next week.”

Zach Parise made it 5-1 at 12:00 of the second period, dropping to his knee and scoring with a one-timer off a pass from Ross Colton from behind the net.

“Nice goal,” said Bednar. “It's another guy that can do a little bit everything for us, right? And that experience goes a long way. It's a guy that's really hungry to win, and he's going to give us everything he's got in order to do that.”

Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin left the game at 18:11 of the second period with a lower-body injury. There was no update on his status.

NOTES: Devon Toews had an assist and recorded his third straight 50-point season (12 goals, 38 assists). He’s the third defenseman in franchise history to record three or more consecutive 50-point seasons (Makar has four straight (2019-present) and Sandis Ozolinsh had three straight (1995-98)). … Nichushkin set a career high with 53 points (28 goals, 25 assists).