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DENVER — Forty-three seconds. That is how long it took Nathan MacKinnon to score the goal that extended his home points streak to 35 games.

The fact he scored that quickly is a reflection of how MacKinnon is a perpetual threat. That he had a point in every home game entering the March 26 contest with the Montreal Canadiens while simultaneously leading the NHL in points is another way to measure what has made the Colorado Avalanche‘s superstar center so indomitable this season.

Yet it was the way he scored the goal that offers insight into why this season has been the best and most consistently productive campaign of his 11-year career.

Ever since he first burst into the hockey world’s consciousness at age 14, many superlatives have been used to describe MacKinnon’s game. Now that he’s 28, one word that has been used quite a bit this season is patience. The goal he scored against the Canadiens to keep his streak alive was an example of that patience. Initially, the pass he played to Jonathan Drouin was deflected and appeared to be going out of the zone.

Paying attention to the puck meant nobody had eyes on MacKinnon. He used his surroundings to float in a space in the Canadiens’ zone that, with his speed, gave him the runway and time to get back on defense to prevent an odd-skater rush or to be in a position to place his opponents in a compromising spot if the Avs recovered the puck.

What occurred was the latter.

All it took was two passes before Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault was faced with a one-timer from an unmarked MacKinnon that was launched from the right faceoff circle.

This is what MacKinnon’s version of patience looks like.

“It’s crazy because for me when I watch hockey and when you’re a defenseman and you see him come, defensemen are going to sag back because they don’t want to get beat wide,” Drouin said. “I think that’s why he’s opened up with his playmaking. He has time to delay and it’s because the D are respecting him. It would be too if I were a defenseman.”

MacKinnon’s home points streak ended two days later against the New York Rangers. He followed that game up by scoring four points in a comeback win against the Nashville Predators that clinched the Avalanche’s seventh consecutive playoff berth.

The most points in a season in franchise history. The most points on home ice in a season in franchise history. A home points streak that finished second in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 40 games in 1988-89. A pair of 19-game point streaks in the same season, a first in NHL history.

These are more than just statements. These bullet points are ammunition for the questions that have been fired off about MacKinnon as of late. What is it about this season? Exactly what has MacKinnon done to be in position to have the best individual campaign of his career?

And, could this be the year MacKinnon finally wins the Hart Trophy that has tantalizingly eluded him?

“It’s just been a lot of work, I think, and there’s new things I just try to get better at,” MacKinnon said. “Also, I’ve been healthy so far. Knock on wood. Every year it seems like I get hurt and hopefully that doesn’t happen. I feel great. My body’s good. My mind’s good and things are just going my way for whatever reason.”


THERE IS NO question MacKinnon is the finished product. What that product is, however, is still a bit of a question. Is he a pure goal scorer? A playmaker? A power forward? Or is it that he’s all three at once, sometimes on the same shift?

MacKinnon had a moment in that game against the Canadiens when his multiple attributes were on display in a single shift. Upon entering the zone, MacKinnon had Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson immediately in front of him. He deked the puck between Matheson’s legs before Kaiden Guhle came over to help by trying to poke the puck away. That’s when MacKinnon deftly lifted his stick and let the puck slide past Guhle before firing a backhanded shot on net.

The Ball Arena crowd’s reaction to his latest trademark moment gave MacKinnon, who already has a few nicknames, a new one in “The Wizard of Ahhs.”

“I think it is tough to describe him because he can do all these things,” Avalanche right winger Mikko Rantanen said. “He’s a shooter. He can be a playmaker. He has a lot of goals, but he also has almost 80 assists or something like that. I can’t even describe one type of player. He does all of it, which is nice.”

Zach Parise had another way to describe MacKinnon.

“A freak. That’s what he is,” Parise said.

Parise’s nine years with the Minnesota Wild allowed him to witness MacKinnon’s evolution from rookie to budding star to one of the NHL’s top players. After all those years playing against MacKinnon, now he knows what it’s like to play with him.

“I remember coming into this building and being matched against their line,” Parise said. “And after the eighth shift of getting hemmed in your zone, you’re just like, ‘My God.’ I remember joking and I think it was to [Gabriel Landeskog]. I just jokingly said, ‘Will you stop? Will you stop coming on the ice against me?!?’ It was like every shift, those guys are flying down the zone and I can’t even breathe out here. It was tough. It was just like a different level.”

Parise said Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby was the standard as the NHL’s best player for several years. Over time, players such as the Edmonton Oilers‘ duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov could be included in that discussion.

Parise believed MacKinnon already was in that stratosphere before joining the Avs. But seeing him every day in practice instead of just the four annual regular-season Avs-Wild games gave Parise a greater appreciation for what MacKinnon was doing.

“There’s not a lot of guys that bring everything to the table, but bring it every game,” Parise said. “That’s what’s impressed me the most. I think it’s been contagious throughout the whole locker room, but it starts up top with him, Cale [Makar] and Mikko.”

Details are everything for elite athletes in any sport, and MacKinnon is no different.

A massive NBA fan, MacKinnon talked about how he listened to LeBron James‘ new podcast and the biggest item that stuck with him was how the Los Angeles Lakers superstar stressed the need to go all-in on every aspect of one’s game.

MacKinnon was already that way. He’s arguably the NHL’s most well-known martinet when it comes to how seriously he takes nutrition. He has a performance rehabilitation specialist whom he credits with shaping his body. He appreciates rest to the point where there are nights when he’s in bed reading a book and falls asleep before 10 p.m.

He even applies this to morning skates and practices. It’s not enough that he’s practicing. He’s usually one of the first skaters on the ice and one of the last players to leave the facility. Even at practice, there are players who go through drills at gradual paces, whereas MacKinnon’s settings are seemingly only fast and even faster.

Pregame warmups are no different. MacKinnon goes through his individual routines as if there were someone with a clipboard and a stopwatch grading his performance.

MacKinnon’s need to be the best is the opening Avalanche coach Jared Bednar used to have a discussion with him about applying that commitment into the defensive side of his game. Bednar’s point to MacKinnon was that being a well-rounded forward who can check another team’s top line is only going to lead to more opportunities to regain possession.

“He has the ability, right? The quickness, the size, the strength, the smarts to be able to check,” Bednar said. “Really, the thing we try to sell to our team is the better we check, the more we are going to have the puck and the more we get to play with the puck and be dangerous offensively. That’s the sole purpose of checking the right way. Not just to keep the puck out of your net but to go create at the other end.”

Being a consistent two-way player has led to MacKinnon being trusted with so many defensive zone faceoffs that his statistics are in the neighborhood of venerable two-way centers such as Mikael Granlund, Roope Hintz, Sam Reinhart and even Crosby, per Natural Stat Trick.

“With Bedsy, he’s always pushing me to be the best I can,” MacKinnon said. “Even this season, a lot has been going on obviously. But there’s things we talk about every day whether it is 6-on-5 coverage or 5-on-5 coverage. Tracking, reloading, things like that. I’m definitely open to hear his opinion. I think he’s a great coach who’s always making me better for sure.”


IT’S BEEN 18 months since MacKinnon’s last Instagram post, while his most recent post on X came back in 2018, when it was still called Twitter.

“I’m not trying to be the cool guy on Instagram showing off different things,” he said. “I just want to be known for my hard work and dedication to the game.”

MacKinnon has no idea what’s being said about him, the season he’s having or if he and the Avs can win a second Stanley Cup in three seasons.

But to suggest MacKinnon doesn’t pay attention to the world around him would be inaccurate — because he does. Especially when the conversation turns to what happened at the NHL All-Star Game back in February. More specifically, when he and Crosby posed for a picture with Justin Bieber.

Bieber stood between Crosby and MacKinnon with the pop star leaning closer to Crosby. The running joke on social media was that Bieber was going to crop MacKinnon out of the photo.

And then the joke became reality. Bieber posted several pictures from All-Star Weekend, including one of just him and Crosby, with the only vestige of MacKinnon being his right shoulder and his No. 29.

Others noticed. The most-liked comment on Bieber’s feed was about MacKinnon, with someone writing, “damn mackinnon got the crop.” It led to several responses ranging from, “what’d he ever do to you justin” to “i’m not even an avs fan and this hurts me lol.”

Another person chimed in to say, “but I mean … It’s Crosby …” followed by someone else stating “but its also mackinnon. Who eventually will be a hall of famer.”

So what does MacKinnon think of all this?

“Yeah, I don’t blame him,” MacKinnon said with a smile. “It’s Sidney Crosby! He’s an icon! A Canadian icon! I get it. I’m not like a household name. I know that, and that’s OK. It’s just funny to me. I’m not offended. Justin seemed like a nice guy.”

To MacKinnon’s point, Crosby is a future Hall of Famer who along with Washington Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin resuscitated the NHL post-lockout. Crosby has won three Stanley Cups, two Hart Trophies and scored a gold medal-winning goal in the Olympics.

Bieber is one of the most popular musicians on the planet. He has 293 million Instagram followers, which would make his fans the fourth-most populous nation in the world behind China, India and the United States. All six of his studio albums went platinum at least once in the U.S. before he turned 30.

Still, it’s not like MacKinnon isn’t accomplished. He’s also a Stanley Cup champion who could win more before his career ends. He’s a seven-time NHL All-Star who has two 100-point seasons and has been in the top six of Hart Trophy voting five of the past six seasons — and he could potentially win the award as NHL MVP this season.

Everything he does on the ice is inescapable. MacKinnon is among those players who has become appointment viewing, whether it’s because someone wants to watching the Avs or checking out social media just to MacKinnon’s latest highlight. From his neutral zone entries to his goals to his assists to just the pureness of his technical ability as a skater have helped him become more of a topic of conversation over the years.

From MacKinnon’s perspective, life is good. Being in Denver means he can walk his new dog, a 25-pound Cavapoo. He had a German Shepherd named Cox that he loved so much that Cox was the logo for his fantasy football team. But Cox required more attention than MacKinnon could provide and now lives with MacKinnon’s parents. MacKinnon smiles when admitting that his new dog used to travel by bag when she was smaller, but now they go on walks to coffee shops and other places.

Living in a place where he’s not the most famous person allows MacKinnon to go to the grocery store in peace. He can wear a hat, a hoodie and joggers with nobody doing a double-take to ask, “Was that Nathan MacKinnon?” It makes him laugh to know that he blends in with everyone else even though he’s one of the best in the world at his profession.

“I guess I just don’t think about myself like that,” MacKinnon said. “I just don’t. I can’t control what people think and we’re not in the biggest market ever and I’m not posting a lot. I don’t know. I’m just living my life. I love my life and I like my privacy, I guess.”


ON SATURDAY, McDAVID authored a three-point game that had everyone talking about his Hart Trophy odds. Come Wednesday, that conversation shifted to Kucherov being the Hart favorite because he just had a three-point game. Only for MacKinnon to score three points the next night, opening the debate all over again.

This exact scenario also happened between March 30 and April 4.

This year’s Hart Trophy race is one of the tightest in years.

Lately, the Hart voting has been largely uncompetitive. McDavid captured the Hart last season by receiving 99.54% of the first-place votes. In 2021-22, Toronto Maple Leafs star center Auston Matthews had more than 61% of the first-place votes, and McDavid was a unanimous choice in 2020-21.

The most recent close race came in 2019-20, when Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl garnered 53.5% of the first-place votes and 77% of the possible total points. The player who finished second received 28.2% of first-place votes and 68.35% of the possible total points.

That was MacKinnon.

Even when Kucherov won in 2018-19, he was almost a unanimous selection. He received 95.9% of the first-place votes.

In 2017-18, then-New Jersey Devils winger Taylor Hall won the Hart with 1,264 points (77% of the possible total points) with the next-closest vote-getter receiving 1,194 points (72.8%).

Again, the runner-up was MacKinnon.

Could it be that way again this year? Or is this the year MacKinnon finally wins the Hart?

Strong cases can be made for multiple players. Kucherov remained the constant for a Lightning team that struggled at times but is in the playoffs for the sixth straight season. He had four months in which he scored more than 20 points.

McDavid was crucial to the Oilers overcoming a slow start that saw them lose eight of their first 11 games before a coaching change was made. Since then, the game’s most dominant player has showed his ability to create for others is just as dangerous as his scoring ability as he became just the fourth player in NHL history to finish with 100 assists in a season with Kucherov later joining him as the fifth player to reach the century mark in assists.

That’s not even accounting for what New York Rangers star winger Artemi Panarin has done to help his team finish as the top seed in the East. Or the fact Matthews not only lead the NHL in goals (69) and entered the final game of the regular season with a chance to become the eighth player ever to score 70 goals in a season.

An argument could be made for what David Pastrnak has done to provide stability to a Boston Bruins team that faced questions without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

And with the Penguins in contention right until the end of the season, some have said Crosby should at least be in the discussion.

MacKinnon told ESPN last year that one of the things he learned as a two-time Hart runner-up was to not be consumed with how others voted. Having that mentality has led to MacKinnon taking a more relaxed approach whenever he’s asked if this could be his year.

Especially with MacKinnon being serenaded with “MVP!” chants at Ball Arena going back to January.

“I want to be the best I can be, but I just truly can’t control who votes for me,” MacKinnon said when asked about the Hart Trophy. “I’ve been in this position before and it hasn’t gone my way, I guess. Everyone has their opinion and the things they like. It is what it is.

“Obviously, winning a Cup is the most important thing to me and that’s what drives me. I don’t think an individual award could drive me to the way I am. There’s such amazing players in this league that to be in the conversation — that’s great, but we’ll see.”

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team through five races this season. William Byron opened the year with a Daytona 500 victory in a Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in a Toyota won the next three races.

Berry, meanwhile, had to run down Daniel Suarez following a restart with 19 laps remaining to take control. Although Harrison Burton won at Daytona last summer for the Wood Brothers, Berry’s victory is the first not at a superspeedway since Ryan Blaney won for the team in 2017 at Pocono.

It was the 101st victory for the organization spanning 20 drivers.

Suarez in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing finished second, followed by Ryan Preece in a Ford for RFK Racing. Byron was fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, Austin Cindric of Team Penske and Alex Bowman of Hendrick.

AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing was eighth, and Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano had late control of the race until Las Vegas native Noah Gragson hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to bring out the ninth caution of the race. Berry was in second when the caution came out and second behind Suarez on the restart.

Berry won in his 53rd Cup race and just his fifth race with the Wood Brothers, the team that signed him when Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of last season.

The 34-year-old Tennessee driver was a 40-1 underdog to win Sunday’s race and his win put the Wood Brothers back into the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Bell to the back

Bell came to Las Vegas on a three-race winning streak with an opportunity to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races.

But his chance to extend his streak was stymied when Joe Gibbs Racing had to change the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after Bell qualified 13th and the penalty dropped him to the back of the field for the start of the race.

He never recovered in what was an overall subpar day for the four-driver JGR contingent.

Bell, who complained about the handling of his car most of the race, finished a team-high 12th. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.

Chase Briscoe was 17th and Ty Gibbs, who rolled a sprint car Saturday night at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished 22nd. Denny Hamlin, winner of more than $200,000 over two nights of playing slots in the Las Vegas casino, couldn’t convert his luck to the track and finished 25th.

Up Next

The Cup Series races next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track that had been in the playoff rotation the last three years but has now been moved to a spring race. Tyler Reddick won last October and Bell won in 2023.

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell will have to start from the back of the field in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive Cup Series race after NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.

Bell had been set to start 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he is trying to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races. But JGR changed the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after qualifying, resulting in Bell forfeiting his starting spot.

Bell came to Las Vegas coming off victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas in Texas and Phoenix. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972. Among those who have accomplished the feat, seven are in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame and six are Cup Series champions.

The drivers who have won four consecutive races in the modern era are Cale Yarborough in 1976, Darrell Waltrip in 1981, Dale Earnhardt in 1987, Harry Gant in 1981, Bill Elliott in 1992, Mark Martin in 1993, Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Johnson 18 years ago.

Bell’s three straight wins are the Cup Series’ longest streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.

His three wins this year tie his career-high victory tallies set in 2022 and matched in 2024. At Las Vegas, Bell has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. He was the runner-up in Vegas’ past two fall races.

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McDowell on pole as Bell seeks 4th straight win

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McDowell on pole as Bell seeks 4th straight win

Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell captured pole position for the seventh time in his career during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It’s the first pole for Spire, which has shown stark improvement with an infusion of cash brought by new majority owner Dan Towriss, who also controls Andretti Global in IndyCar and the Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026.

McDowell’s previous six poles all came during the 2024 season, his 17th in the Cup Series.

Christopher Bell qualified in 13th position but will start from the back of the field as he searches for a fourth consecutive win. NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.

He could become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup Series races — an accomplishment that only eight drivers have achieved in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.

Lackluster qualifying hasn’t been a deterrent for Bell thus far, as he started 19th before winning at Circuit of the Americas and 32nd before winning at Atlanta.

Joey Logano will start Sunday’s race alongside McDowell on the front of the grid, qualifying in the top two at Las Vegas for the third time in five races. Austin Cindric will start third, while Las Vegas native Kyle Busch starts in fourth.

Bell has received a congratulatory text message from Johnson after each win in this three-race streak, and he is hoping the seven-time NASCAR champion hits that send button again Sunday.

“It is still the coolest thing in the world to me that I have Jimmie Johnson in my phone,” Bell said. “He has talked to me, he has sent me a text message after every win so far. I’m still shocked every time I see his name pop up. I respect the heck out of him. It’s an honor to know that he thinks of me after the race to send a text message. That is so cool.”

Bell’s three straight wins is the Cup Series’ longest winning streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.

The three wins this year tie his season-high set in 2022 and matched in 2024, and setting a new mark isn’t out of the question at Las Vegas, where he has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. Bell, in his No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was the runner-up in Vegas’ last two fall races.

He is not considering a fourth consecutive victory a lock, even as he has dominated the first month of the season.

“One thing is for sure: Nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week,” Bell said. “Everything is still ahead of me and nothing is set, and we have to go out there and perform. This has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand it is a new week. It’s a different race, and everyone is going to be bringing their best stuff to try to beat me.”

Perhaps the greatest threat to end Bell’s hot streak is Larson, who has won at the “Diamond in the Desert” three times since joining Hendrick Motorsports. Larson’s first win with Hendrick came at Las Vegas in March 2021, and he has claimed two of the previous three races held at the track, winning the South Point 400 in October 2023 and the Pennzoil 400 in March 2024.

“I think since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, it’s probably been our best racetrack,” Larson said. “Getting a few wins, I think two other second-place finishes in that time has also been really good. The track is great, but getting to come to the city and have fun on the Strip and all the stuff that it has to offer, it probably makes it one of my three favorite races to get to.”

Logano is the most recent winner at Las Vegas, as his victory at the South Point 400 in October propelled him to his third NASCAR title.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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