Nathan MacKinnon got the better end of his collision with this Stars defenseman.
The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars have played a heated series against each other. This was expected, as they are division rivals who naturally have some bad blood. This only intensifies during the playoffs.
Game 5 between these two clubs brought more of the same, as Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon got into a big-time collision with Dallas Stars defenseman Chris Tanev. While MacKinnon did not seem to hit Tanev purposely, it caused an issue for the veteran, and he immediately left the ice.
Nathan MacKinnon ESPN's Emily Kaplan later shared that Tanev had "at least one tooth pulled" following the play. However, in true hockey player fashion, Tanev not only returned to the game but played some big-time minutes. Following getting repairs, he played 26 more shifts and had roughly 20 minutes of ice time.
It was good to see that Tanev suffered no serious injury from his collision with MacKinnon. It was a hard play between the two players, and there was naturally some concern when Tanev left the ice.
It will now be interesting to see how chippy Game 6 between the Avalanche and Stars will be.