Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar and forward Jonathan Drouin explain what makes Nathan MacKinnon such an elite player. Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was named the First Star of the Week by the NHL on Monday for the 11th time in his career. The 28-year-old is second in the League for points with 47 — five behind Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov. He leads in assists with 33 and has scored 14 goals, only one on the power play. "I feel very clear, I'd say. The game feels like it's slow, which is always a good, good feeling," MacKinnon said after the win. "Obviously, doing a lot of work away from the rink that no one sees, and it's paying off right now — just try to do my job and contribute." With a four-point game in the 6-2 win against the San Jose Sharks, MacKinnon has now scored at least a point in his last 15 games — tying his career-high record from 2020-21. "Nate's been playing great for a while now. I think he's taken his game to the next level the past couple weeks, and you could see it tonight. "Obviously he's a top player in this league, if not the best. For me, every night he brings it off the ice, on the ice. He demands a lot for himself, demands a lot from his teammates but he brings it every night and he's ready to go," Jonathan Drouin said of MacKinnon after the Sharks win. He's also been successful at home having scored at least a point in each of the 16 games at Ball Arena. He is just one short of tying the longest season-opening home point streak in franchise history (Mats Sundin 1992-93, Peter Stastny 1980-81). "He's always been an exceptional worker off the ice and he sets himself up for success on game day by the way he prepares — whether that's gym, diet, practice. You watch him in practice, and he doesn't want to do a lot of reps of one thing, but when he does his reps, he does them full speed, gets what he needs out of it, and then he's ready to move on to something else," head coach Jared Bednar said about his star center. "That's the example that he sets for us. Everything that he does, even before and after practice work, it's something that he's identified that he wants to improve on or stay sharp on and he drags other guys into that. His his preparation and his competitiveness is why he's as good as he is." MacKinnon has 806 career points and was the fifth fastest active player to earn 800 in just 738 games played. The four others to reach the mark in fewer games are Connor McDavid (545 GP), Sidney Crosby (571 GP), Alex Ovechkin (658 GP) and Evgeni Malkin (680 GP). RELATED ARTICLES Nathan MacKinnon notches 4 points in 6-2 win over San Jose Sharks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/nathan-mackinnon-notches-4-points-in-6-2-win-over-san-jose-sharks] Colton, MacKinnon hits part of Avalanche identity [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/featured/colton-https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/featured/colton-mackinnon-hits-part-of-avalanche-identitymackinnon-hits-part-of-avalanche-identity] 'If anything, I try to hold some back': Nathan MacKinnon's intensity makes him good leader [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/featured/nathan-mackinnons-intensity-makes-him-good-leader]
